Active COVID-19 cases hit 5-month high in West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Lively instances of COVID-19 hit their highest ranges in West Virginia in 5 months Thursday.

There have been at the very least 3,221 ongoing instances within the state, the very best since 3,339 on Feb. 24, in response to the Division of Well being and Human Sources’ COVID-19 dashboard. Lively instances statewide had plunged to 263 on April 4 after surpassing 21,000 in January.

Confirmed every day instances in West Virginia surpassed 480 on Tuesday and Wednesday after falling beneath 400 on every of the earlier 4 days.

The rise occurred as President Joe Biden examined optimistic for COVID-19 on Thursday, underscoring the persistence of the extremely contagious virus as new variants problem the nation’s efforts to renew normalcy after two and a half years of pandemic disruptions.

The variety of folks hospitalized for the virus in West Virginia has risen steadily since bottoming out at 77 in mid-April. It was at 299 Thursday. The pandemic report of 1,097 was set on Feb. 2. The Nationwide Guard ended its staffing help to hospitals on March 11.

There have been 7,121 virus deaths in West Virginia because the begin of the pandemic.