W.Va. COVID-19 hospitalizations closing in on record levels
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CHARLESTON - West Virginia is nearly 16 beds away from reaching the state’s peak ICU usage for COVID-19 patients in January, according to recent hospitalization data.
According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, hospitalizations for COVID-19 as of Friday was 640 with ICU bed usage at 203.
The state is nearing hospitalization and ICU numbers not seen since January, but while it took eight months for West Virginia to reach a peak of 818 hospitalizations on Jan. 5, it only took the state less than two months, from July 4 to end of August, to reach 640 hospitalizations.
According to hospital data provided to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 76.6 percent of inpatient beds were in use between 63 West Virginia hospitals as of Sunday, with 10.18 percent of inpatient beds being used for COVID-19 patients across 59 hospitals. West Virginia’s inpatient hospital numbers put it in the middle of most states and put it higher than all surrounding states except for Kentucky, whose rate was nearly double West Virginia’s.
But ICU bed usage in West Virginia was 74.86, with 28.44 percent of ICU beds in use for COVID-19 patients. Out of 692 staffed ICU beds, 518 beds were in use with 183 beds in use for COVID-19. West Virginia joins a majority of states with high ICU bed usage for COVID-19 patients, with several northeastern states and states along the Canadian border keeping their ICU bed usage lower.
During his COVID-19 briefing Monday in Charleston, Gov. Jim Justice said 82 percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations in West Virginia are unvaccinated residents, while 74 percent of those who died from COVID-19 over the last seven days were unvaccinated.