June Leffler Published

W.Va. Counties All Green On COVID-19

gov. jim justice all green counties

Friday, Gov. Jim Justice announced that all 55 counties have a green designation on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

“For the first time in who knows how long, our entire map in the state of West Virginia is green,” Justice said. “We pulled a rope together.”

“Green” means all counties now have either less than 1 out of 10,000 people with active COVID-19 or less than 5 percent of recent tests that have come back positive.

That designation varies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definitions of community COVID-19 risks. The CDC’s map shows that most of America, and West Virginia, is experiencing a low, or green, transmission rate. However, Braxton County is in red and seven other counties are in yellow.

The CDC recently relaxed its metrics and masking guidelines. The agency now gives more weight to hospitalizations and less to caseloads when calculating community COVID-19 risks.

West Virginia has the highest per-capita rate of COVID-19 hospital admissions, according to data compiled by the New York Times. Currently, 171 West Virginians are in the hospital with COVID-19. The state falls in the middle of the pack when it comes to new cases.

More than 6,700 West Virginians have died during the pandemic.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.