The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources has reported the deaths of five additional residents due to complications stemming from COVID-19. Those confirmed deceased on Monday, Nov. 23 are a 66-year-old Kanawha County woman, a 71-year old Kanawha County woman, a 79-year-old Berkeley County man, a 75-year-old Wyoming County man and a 72-year-old Summers County man.
“On this national public health thank you day, we are grateful for our health care professionals, support staff and all who continue to do everything in their power to combat COVID-19. Our sincere sympathies are extended to these families,” Cabinet Secretary Bill Crouch said in a statement posted on the W.Va. DHHR website.
The total number of deaths in West Virginia attributed to COVID-19 is now 667.
According to the American Public Health Association, National Public Health Thank You Day is a day to “recognize public health professions who work tirelessly everyday to protect the health of all people and all communities.”
George Benjamin is the executive director of the American Public Health Association.
“Our public health workforce works day in and day out to protect and improve the health of others,” Benjamin said. “Their work affects the lives of Americans in countless ways, from treating and preventing disease outbreaks, to preparing us for natural disasters, to ensuring everyone has access to affordable and quality care. Thanks to the efforts of these dedicated professionals, the U.S. is on its way to becoming the healthiest nation in one generation.”
There were 11,649 laboratory tests performed on Sunday, Nov. 22, and 636 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified. The daily positivity-rate is 4%, while the cumulative positivity-rate has climbed to 3.48%.
During his Monday, Nov. 23, coronavirus response media-briefing, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said that “we are getting closer to a time when health-experts may recommend shut downs in select counties.”
Justice stated that “pinpointed measures” would be used when determining which (if any) counties would need to be shut down.
Greenbrier, Monroe and Fayette counties remain designated as yellow on the DHHR’s daily color-coded county map, while Pocahontas, Summers and Mercer are designated green.
In Greenbrier County, the infection rate is 30.50% and the percent positive is 3.20%. In Monroe County, the infection rate is 24.75% and the percent positive is 3.10%. In Fayette County, the infection rate is 29.65% and the percent positive is 3.03%. In Pocahontas County, the infection rate is 15.59% and the percent positive is 2.47%. In Summers County, the infection rate is 21.59% and the percent positive is 2.31%. In Mercer County, the infection rate is 40.85% and the percent positive is 2.98%.
“It is with great regret that we have to announce Monroe County’s ninth and 10th death related to COVID-19, a 72-year-old male and a 78-year-old male. Our sincerest condolences to their families,” the Monroe County Health Department wrote to social media on Friday, Nov. 20.
West Virginia’s RT (reproduction) rate is 1.09%, which is the twenty-third best in the nation. 463 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 136 of whom are receiving care in the ICU. 60 of those infected are being treated with ventilators. W.Va. DHHR reports that 26,769 individuals have since recovered.
There have been 1,033,510 laboratory tests administered statewide since the onset of the pandemic, accounting for 55.654% of the population. West Virginia’s seven-day testing average is now 14,076.
During the Monday briefing, the question was raised as to whether the total number of laboratory tests reported by the DHHR includes repeat test-takers.
“Our test screeners do look into repeat testing variables, so they do remove those,” State Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad said. “They do look at those variables to try to remove those duplicate tests.”
DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill Crouch elaborated further.
“The duplicate tests are eliminated if they are done on the same day,” Crouch said. “If folks try to go through the testing lanes again to try to get the positivity-rate down…please understand that those aren’t even counted. That’s not what we want individuals to do to game the system. But there are duplicates beyond that first day, and we do track those. But I think the question really goes to the total number of tests we’ve done, which is now over a million tests. And those are tests that we’ve done…an unduplicated count of individuals. We’re going to try and track those a little bit better, but the focus is on getting people tested.”
Crouch concluded by saying, “We’re going to focus a little bit more on those duplicates, and may have more information in the next week or so about those numbers.”
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