CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – The Mountain State has now surpassed 8,000 deaths related to COVID-19, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

According to the WV DHHR, 29 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported since the last weekly update, bringing the number to 8,005 total deaths throughout the pandemic.

Friday, March 17, will mark three years since the original strain of the virus was first detected in West Virginia, making the Mountain state, the last state in the nation to confirm a case of the virus.

The WVDHHR says as the COVID-19 response has changed throughout the past three years, and the federal public health emergency is set to expire on May 11, 2023. Because of this, DHHR officials have updated the metrics of the state’s COVID-19 dashboard to reflect the current response efforts.

According to the dashboard, a total of 1,195 West Virginians were hospitalized with COVID-19 this week, including 92 children. Of those case, 194 patients were in the ICU, with 86 on ventilators, including 20 children in the ICU and 14 children on ventilators.