Coronavirus in West Virginia: Positive COVID-19 percentages lower than surrounding states

Posted: May 4, 2020 / 05:15 PM EDT / Updated: May 4, 2020 / 05:18 PM EDT

FILE – This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, U.S. health regulators OK’d the first coronavirus test that allows people to collect their own sample at home, a new approach that could help expand testing options in most states. The sample will still have to be shipped for processing back to LabCorp, which operates diagnostic labs throughout the U.S. (NIAID-RML via AP)

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is reporting 18 new cases of COVID-19 in the Mountain State. West Virginia continues to have a Cumulative Percent Positive Tests Result under 3% with the percentage currently at 2.27%. This number is the lowest among West Virginia and its surrounding states, and nearly four times lower than the surrounding state with the closest Cumulative Percent Positive number, Kentucky which is reporting 8.46%.

As of 5:00 p.m., on May 4, 2020, the state has received 54,075 laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 1,224 positive cases, 52,851 negative tests and 50 deaths.

These are considered official numbers reported to the state, which the WV DHHR says will be reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Delays may be experienced with the reporting of cases and deaths from the local health department to the state health department.

Counties with confirmed cases of COVID-19 include Barbour (5), Berkeley (166), Boone (6), Braxton (2), Brooke (3), Cabell (44), Fayette (16), Gilmer (3), Grant (3), Greenbrier (7), Hampshire (8), Hancock (11), Hardy (9), Harrison (31), Jackson (135), Jefferson (82), Kanawha (168), Lewis (4), Lincoln (2), Logan (13), Marion (46), Marshall (19), Mason (12), McDowell (6), Mercer (11), Mineral (18), Mingo (2), Monongalia (107), Monroe (5), Morgan (13), Nicholas (6), Ohio (33), Pendleton (3), Pleasants (2), Pocahontas (2), Preston (13), Putnam (29), Raleigh (10), Randolph (4), Ritchie (1), Roane (6), Summers (1), Taylor (7), Tucker (4), Tyler (3), Upshur (5), Wayne (90), Wetzel (3), Wirt (3), Wood (41), Wyoming (1).

The WV DHHR says as case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested.

The dashboard at www.coronavirus.wv.gov contains West Virginia-specific data and now includes outbreak information for West Virginia’s nursing homes. A Frequently Asked Questions document has been developed regarding case counts and can be found here.

The number of laboratory results received refers to the number of tests performed and completed, not the number of residents tested as some individuals have had multiple samples taken for COVID-19 tests.

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