By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia officials provided the first detailed glimpse of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the state during Thursday’s coronavirus briefing.
Dr. Clay Marsh, vice president for health sciences at West Virginia University and the state’s COVID-19 czar, said the numbers are encouraging. However, he warned that the Mountain State is still early into the pandemic.
The surge of coronavirus cases in West Virginia is now projected to peak on April 15.
Using a football analogy, Marsh said: “If you go up with a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, that doesn’t mean the game is over.”
He added, “We’re doing well, but it’s still early in the game.”
Thursday’s briefing offered a look at health department data collected from the five counties with the highest number of positive COVID-19 cases in the state. Those counties — Berkeley, Jefferson, Kanawha, Marion and Monongalia — accounted for 442 of the then-504 total cases in West Virginia, or about 88 percent.
Of those 442 cases, 363 people, or 82.1%, were in home isolation, while 79 patients, or 17.9%, were hospitalized. Of the hospitalized patients, 40, or 9% of the total, were on regular hospital floors, while 39, or 8.8%, were in intensive care units, including 26, 5.9%, who were on ventilators. …
