Category: Covid-19

August 26, 2021 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

Governor Greg Abbott today announced that the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), in partnership with local officials, will launch a new COVID-19 therapeutic infusion center in Nacogdoches. The infusion center will begin accepting patients tomorrow and has been provided with Regeneron's monoclonal antibodies to treat outpatient cases of COVID-19 who have a referral from a doctor. This treatment is available at no cost to the patient. Local partners include Nacogdoches County, City of Nacogdoches, and Nacogdoches Medical Center.

"The State of Texas is continuing to expand access to COVID-19 antibody therapeutics in communities across the Lone Star State," said Governor Abbott. "This new facility in Nacogdoches will ensure East Texans who contract COVID-19 have access to this free and effective treatment."

Governor Abbott, TDEM, and the Texas Department of State Health Serviceshave established and expanded antibody infusion centers in communities across the state over the past few weeks. COVID-19 antibody infusion treatment can prevent a patient's condition from worsening and requiring hospital care.These facilities also help increase bed capacity in hospitals so that resources are available for the most ill patients.The State deployedsimilar measures beginning in November 2020 to communities across Texas.

These state sponsored Infusion Centers are in addition to the antibody infusion treatment that is provided by more than 200 private health providers across the state.

Antibody infusion centers are currently operating in the following communities, with more coming online in the coming days:

The treatment is free and available to all Texans who test positive for COVID-19 and have a doctor's referral. Texans can visitmeds.tdem.texas.govto find a therapeutic provider near them.

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Governor Abbott, TDEM Launch COVID-19 Antibody Infusion Center In Nacogdoches - Office of the Texas Governor

COVID hospitalizations in Shelby County hits 'unfortunate milestone'

Shelby County reaches 'unfortunate milestone' with COVID hospitalizations

Nate Chute, Wochit

Memphis-area COVID-19 hospitalizations hit a new record this week when the region reached 700 people hospitalized with COVID-19 for the first time.

The Shelby County Health Department released the sobering data point Thursday. There were 515 people with COVID-19 in acute care beds and 186 in intensive care units on Wednesday, according to hospital data.Data showed 10 remaining staffed intensive care units in the Memphis metro area.

"We've reached an unfortunate milestone," Doug McGowen, the city of Memphis chief operating officer and task force member, said of the hospitalizations.

The numbers reflected single-digit growth from a week earlier when 173 people were in the ICU and 473 people in acute care beds.The rate of hospitalizations, McGowen added, is expected to increase in the weeks to come.

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The new record comes 10 days after the heads of Memphis emergency rooms wrote local leaders a letter that said they could soon have to triage care based on the probability of survival. Their letter asked the Shelby County Health Department to enact a mask requirement and the county complied an indoor mask mandate started last Friday.

The level of hospitalizations in Memphis continues to make projections come true. Projections from the joint task force show that 1,040 people could be in the hospital on Sept. 1. To get there, Memphis would simply stay on the trajectory it is on now, according to data shared with the joint task force and obtained by The Commercial Appeal.

The projections also estimate 285 people could be in intensive care units by Sept. 1, an increase of about 100 people and reflecting more than 50% growth from Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear how much additional hospitalization growth local hospitals could sustain without being forced to implement crisis standards of care.

In the latest surge, cases among children continue to stay elevated compared to previous surges.

Currently, pediatric cases of COVID-19 make up 32.5% of all active COVID-19 infections in Shelby County, according to Shelby County Health Department Director Michelle Taylor.

The total of kids 17 and under with an active COVID-19 infection has surpassed active cases in the 18 to 24 category, another pandemic first.

COVID cases for kids: 2,500 recent COVID-19 cases among Memphis area kids, at least 4 school clusters investigated

Virtual schooling: Shelby County Schools to press state to allow return of last year's virtual learning option

The delta variant has put more children in Le Bonheur Children's Hospital than previous strains of the virus. As of Monday, 28 children are patients at Le Bonheur. Seven of those patients are receiving treatment in the intensive care unit. Two children are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

In mid-August, Dr. Nick Hysmith, thedirector of infection prevention at Le Bonheur, expressed some level of hope that cases among children would level-off once vaccinations increased and mask mandates in Shelby County Schools were enacted.

At the time of Hysmith's remarks, there were eight fewer children in the hospital than there are today. And since his remarks, one child has succumbed to COVID-19.

Taylor could not definitively say whether Hysmith's hopes have materialized. Raw hospitalizations numbers among children suggest it hasn't.

The current amended health directive is set to expire on Aug. 31. When asked if the county could expect to see additional restrictions in the next health directive, Taylor said it was unlikely.

Previous restrictions have included limits on crowd capacity in restaurants and bars in order to uphold physical distancing.

For now, Taylor said, the county will continue to lean on masking, urging residents to follow Centers for Disease Control and Preventionguidelines, and urging the public to get vaccinated.

As of Thursday, just 39% of the entire population of Shelby County, a figure that includes children too young to be vaccinated, are fully inoculated against COVID-19.

At least one mass vaccination site at the Pipkin building in the Mid-South Fairgrounds will now stay open until the wintertime, McGowen said.

As the delta variant of COVID-19 continues to drive record infections, more residents are seeking testing. This, McGowen acknowledged Thursday, has led to longer wait times in acquiring tests, and longer turnaround times for test results.

To meet testing demand, testing sites are increasing their capacity; it is too early to know if the measures will be sufficient for the number of Shelby County residents seeking to know their COVID-19 status.

The locations set to increase testing capacity are:

A list of all community testing locations can be found on the city's website.

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.

Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.

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Memphis-area hospitals hit record number of COVID-19 patients as third-wave intensifies - Commercial Appeal

Burden and characteristics of COVID-19 in the United States during 2020  Nature.com

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Burden and characteristics of COVID-19 in the United States during 2020 - Nature.com

As of Thursday, more than 889 million people had been fully vaccinated, with more than two billion shots of domestically-produced Covid-19 administered in total, an official at the National Health Commission said at a press conference Friday. That puts China on par with the United Kingdom and ahead of the United States in terms of the percentage of its population that are now fully vaccinated.

China's latest inoculation campaign has targeted the elderly, minors and residents in the country's vast rural areas hard to reach groups that had not been covered in earlier vaccination rounds.

Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the discrepancy between central government policy and its local implementation is a typical occurrence in China's top down political system, where provincial officials are placed under tremendous pressure to meet policy targets set by Beijing.

"Failure to fulfill these targets will lead to penalization, creating this incentive for local government officials to undertake heavy-handed measures to get things done," he said.

Zhong, the top respiratory expert, said China could establish "effective herd immunity" when the vaccination rate hits 80%.

But Huang with the Council on Foreign Relations said he remained skeptical, given the lower efficacy rates of Chinese vaccines and the surge of Delta variant breakthrough infections across the world.

At the press conference Friday, Zheng Zhongwei, an official at the NHC, said experts at the agency recommend high-risk groups, such as workers at customs, airports and quarantine sites, to be given a booster shot six months after they've been fully vaccinated.

On Monday, state broadcaster CCTV warned the pandemic has not ended and that people shouldn't become careless in epidemic prevention.

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China has administered 2 billion Covid vaccine shots. But coercive measures are sparking anger - CNN

The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. January 29, 2020. Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM/CDC/Handout via REUTERS

MEXICO CITY, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have created a facemask using silver and copper nanolayers that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, the university's official gazette said on Thursday.

UNAM is calling the triple-layered antimicrobial facemask SakCu; Sak means silver in Mayan and Cu is the chemical symbol for copper.

To test the mask, researchers took drops with the virus from COVID-19-positive patients at the Hospital Juarez in Mexico and placed them on the silver-copper film deposited in polypropylene.

UNAM said that if the viral concentration was high, the virus disappeared by more than 80% in about eight hours and if the viral load was low, in two hours none of the virus RNA was detected.

"Upon contact with the silver-copper nanolayer, the SARS-CoV-2 membrane breaks and its RNA is damaged," the gazette said. "Thus, even if SakCu is disposed of improperly, it will not be a problem as it does not remain contaminated, like many of the masks that are thrown away."

The facemask is reusable and can be washed up to 10 times without losing its biocide properties.

UNAM is not mass-producing the facemask and said that it currently has the capacity to produce 200 of them per day.

The research was led by UNAM's Materials Research Institute. It has not been peer reviewed.

Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Mexican researchers say they created facemask that neutralizes COVID-19 - Reuters

In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, states and the federal government took a range of actions in Medicaid to enhance capacity to respond to the public health and economic crises. The COVID-19 pandemic had wide ranging effects across Medicaid, impacting providers, beneficiaries, and long-term services and supports (LTSS). States were able to use Medicaid emergency authorities to address specific challenges and make necessary changes as circumstances evolved and new challenges emerged.

Although the federal public health emergency (PHE) remains in place, as vaccine rates increased and COVID-19 cases declined earlier this year, many state-level emergency declarations expired and states started to terminate some Medicaid flexibilities beginning in late Spring and early Summer of 2021. However, the Delta variant and low vaccination rates in some areas may present additional challenges. The Biden Administration has indicated it intends to extend the public health emergency until at least the end of calendar year 2021, but a continued wave of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths could lead to further extensions and continued emergency authorities in Medicaid.

This brief summarizes how states have used Medicaid emergency authorities related to the COVID-19 PHE, providing potential lessons for future public health and economic crises.

The declarations of a national disaster and a public health emergency allow for the use of a range of Medicaid emergency authorities. These authorities include Disaster-Relief state plan amendments (SPAs), Section 1135 waivers, Section 1915(c) Appendix K waivers, and Section 1115 waivers. States can also make Medicaid program changes during a PHE using existing administrative authorities and traditional SPAs. In addition, Congress enacted major federal legislation to respond to the COVID-19 emergency, including funding to support Medicaid and increase access to Medicaid coverage. The PHE began on January 27, 2020, and the most recent declaration extended the PHE through October 18, 2021, however; the Biden administration has indicated it will continue to renew the PHE through the end of 2021 and that states will receive 60 days notice prior to its expiration or termination.

The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in wide adoption by states of available Medicaid emergency authorities to expand Medicaid capacity and target services, providers, and enrollees that were impacted by the coronavirus emergency. Based on our tracking between March 2020 and July 2021, all 50 states and DC received approval to make changes through Disaster-Relief state plan amendments (SPAs), Section 1135 waivers and Section 1915(c) Appendix K waivers. Additionally, twelve states received approval for changes through a Section 1115 waiver and six states made changes through regular SPAs. States adopted many policies through these existing authorities similar to previous disasters, including to connect individuals to coverage more quickly and to address needs of affected populations.

States used Medicaid emergency authorities to make changes across a number of policy areas during the COVID-19 PHE to address the effects of the emergency. We analyzed specific state actions in more detail in a series of briefs, linked below. State actions included:

Use of Medicaid emergency Section 1115 authority differed from previous emergencies. Historically, states have used Section 1115 authority to expand coverage and/or provide uncompensated care to address the direct impact of natural disasters and public health emergencies (likeNew York City after 9/11,Hurricane Katrina, andFlint Michigan) on state Medicaid and Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs. In response to the COVID-19 PHE, however, CMS targeted the emergency Section 1115 waiver demonstration opportunity to HCBS flexibilities. While states initially submitted Section 1115 waivers with a broader approach, CMS approved few waivers and mostly limited the scope to authorities in the application template.

Medicaid emergency authorities related to the PHE expire at different times, but states can choose to continue some of these changes even after the PHE ends (Table 1). The PHE ends when the Secretary declares that the emergency no longer exists, or after 90 days from the last PHE extension, whichever happens first. As noted above, the Biden Administration has indicated the PHE will last at least through 2021. Policy changes such as streamlining eligibility and enrollment, adding benefits and increasing provider rates that were made through Disaster-Relief SPAs can be continued after the emergency through regular SPA authority. Similarly, states may submit 1915(c) waiver amendment requests to continue some Appendix K options (such as expanded telehealth, new services, and increased ability to pay family caregivers) after the PHE. States may also submit Section 1115 requests to continue some emergency flexibilities.

Lessons learned from Medicaids response to the COVID-19 PHE can inform continued pandemic response and recovery as well as future emergencies. To facilitate states adoption of emergency authorities during the COVID-19 PHE, the federal government issued templates, guidance documents and held state calls to communicate with states. These weekly state calls helped to provide timely guidance and to answer emerging questions as the federal government and states were moving quickly to implement new legislative provisions as well as emergency authorities designed to facilitate enrollment, access to care and reimbursement for providers. Preprint templates allowed states to quickly apply for and adopt flexibilities specifically addressed to COVID-19 challenges, especially given that states faced staffing shortages due to social distancing and illness. Once adopted, states and the federal government communicated with providers and enrollees to inform those impacted by the policy changes and to ensure that additional resources were utilized. Policy flexibilities during the COVID-19 PHE strengthened Medicaids ability to serve as a safety net during the pandemic and economic downturn by providing coverage to individuals who lost their jobs and supporting providers who experienced reduced income. The Biden Administration has indicated a continued focus on Medicaid as a key part of the social safety net during the COVID-19 recovery and beyond, including increasing support for HCBS services and increasing adoption of the Medicaid expansion. Going forward, understanding how the process of adopting and implementing changes during the pandemic worked and what could be improved will be important in continuing to respond to the current emergency and the Delta variant as well as future emergencies.

Looking ahead, some states had begun to unwind emergency authorities and were planning for a return to normal operations; however, they may face challenges due to rising cases as a result of the Delta variant and low vaccination rates in some areas. The Biden Administration recently updated previous guidance to states on the end of the PHE on transitioning to normal operations, allowing additional time for states to complete renewals and redeterminations once the PHE ends. States began to roll back emergency authorities and plan for normal operations beginning in late Spring and early Summer of 2021 as vaccination levels increased and cases declined. More recently, however, states are again seeing increased cases due to the Delta variant. States with areas of low vaccination rates in particular may face challenges and disruptions similar to those experienced earlier in the pandemic. If states have terminated emergency Medicaid flexibilities that increased access to coverage and care, they may have reduced ability to address the effects of the Delta variant on providers and individuals. Increased case levels due to coronavirus variants may result in the Biden Administration continuing to extend the PHE into 2022, which would also have implications for maintenance of effort requirements for states, further extending the time which they must provide continuous Medicaid coverage and keeping many emergency authorities in place longer.

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How Have States Used Medicaid Emergency Authorities During COVID-19 and What Can We Learn? - Kaiser Family Foundation

Wayne County health officials are expected to issue COVID-19guidance to schools on Friday.

The health and safety of the students in Wayne County is our top priority as we welcome them back to school this year," saidDaveda Colbert, superintendent at the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agencies, or RESA,in a statement.

RESA, which provides services and support to more than 30 districts in the county, has been in ongoing conversations with the county health division throughout the pandemic about safety mitigation measures, she said.

Colbert saidthe health department was expected to offer additional direction on mitigation measures and safety procedures on Friday.

"The work of our educators across the county in preparation for this school year has been extraordinary, especially given the ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic," she said. "I know they are all eager to welcome students back to school in a safe and secure learning environment that protects the health and wellbeing of their students."

The county has not formally decided on a mask policy as of Thursday night.

Tiffani Jackson, a spokeswoman for Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, said Wednesday that we are in discussions with school districts and communities and heavily considering the implementation of a mask mandate for in-person learning.

On Thursday night, she told The Detroit News in an email that county officials would "have something solidified tomorrow."

Others were weighing in, meanwhile, to urge the county to issue a mask order. Seven state Democratic senators sent a letter to the Wayne County Health Department, citing "serious and severe cases" of young children contracting the virus and "potential long-term side effects." They calledfor a county-wide mask requirement in schools, Sen. Dayna Polehanki, 7th District, said Thursday on Twitter.

"We write to you today to respectully request that the Wayne County Department of Health, Human and Veterans Sevices issue an emergency health order, with immediate effect, requiring masks to be worn by every student, teacher, and staff memmber in all Wayne County public shcools regardless of vaccination status," the lettter said.

"... School districts, in large measure, wanted the ability to make COVID-related decisions at the local level, but becaue they are not public health experts, they need bold, science-based guidance from you and your team of medical experts."

A mask mandate for the state's largestcounty would be the latestas the delta variant of COVID-19 surges through Michigan and has pushed most counties in the state into a high transmission rate for the variant.

It would also affect the most students, following Oakland County's decision this week for 210,000 students. According to RESA, there are 33 school districts in 43 Wayne County communities serving approximately 226,000 students.There also are 108 public school academies serving 64,000 students.

Other counties have issued mask mandates, including Oakland, Genesee, Kalamazoo, Allegan, Kent and Ottawa, although some, like Genesee, only require masks for students in grades K-6.

The list is likely to grow. COVID-19 transmission is high enough inMichigan's 83 counties, where 72 arelisted as high for transmission of the delta variant and 11 others listed as substantial, that an overwhelming majority of stateresidents should be wearing masks while in public under federal guidelines, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Wednesday, Michigan added 4,326 new COVID-19 cases and 38 deaths from the virus. The figures brought overall totals to 937,720 cases and 20,161 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Last week, the state reported 10,807 new cases, up 14% from the 9,467 cases disclosed over the previous seven-day period.

Michigan's COVID-19 hospitalizations havesurpassed1,100 inpatients, and new infection numbers have been climbing for a month.

Through Wednesday, 65.3% of Michigan residents age 16 or older had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the state health department.

The Oakland County Health Division issued an emergency health order Tuesday that affects about 210,000 students across 28 publicschool districts and 22 charter schools academies.The order also applies to daycare centers and vocational schools.

The move sparked a protest outside county health division offices in Pontiac on Wednesday. About 150 parents railed against the mandate decision that applies regardless of vaccination status.Some said they would sendtheir children to schoolwithout masks, turnto home-schooling or try to overturn the emergency health order in the courts.

Hours later, parents and community members demonstratedoutside the Macomb County Health Department in Mount Clemens to urge the county to institute amask mandate this school year.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has defended her decision not to issue a statewide mask mandate despite advice from the state's chief medical executive as well as urging from federal officials and the White House.

She told reporters Monday there are mitigating measures such as vaccines. "We now have tools so that we can take action to protect ourselves and those around us," she said.

Whitmer added that nearly 35% of Michigan students were in districts that have implemented mask requirements.

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Wayne County officials expected to issue COVID-19 guidance to schools on Friday - The Detroit News

There have been more cases of students and staff catching COVID-19 during the first threeweeks of school this year than all of last school year inManatee County, and Sarasota County is not far behind.

As of Thursday, Manatee was reporting 1,156 positive cases among students and 200 among staff. Last year, the school district had 1,119 total cases among students and staff for the entire year.

In Sarasota, the district's COVID-19 numbers have been growing at an unprecedented rate.

As of Thursday, the district was reporting that 1,436 students and 232staff members have tested positive since July 1, for a total of 1,668 cases in just 13 days of school. (Some of those cases were over the summer, but the vast majority have been reported since school began Aug. 10.)

In Sarasota: Sarasota School Board mandates masks in school; DeSantis says move is illegal

More: Manatee schools make masks mandatory, but parents can opt out

Last year, Sarasota had2,266 cases for the entire year, a number the district will likely surpass in the coming days if it keeps up the current pace.

The highest number of new cases Sarasota had in one week last year was 322, the week after Winter Break. This year, the district has beenaveraging roughly 128 new cases per day.

While the numbers are climbing steadily, at this point the vast majority of students are in school and not getting sick.

Manatee's total student cases amount to 2% of the total student enrollment. Sarasota's total student cases amounts to roughly 3% of enrollment.

On Tuesday, the Manatee County School Board voted to extend its optional mask mandate. Students in Manatee are required to wear masks unless their parents turn in an opt-out form, and the policy will be suspended if the seven-day positivity rate falls to 8%.

According to district spokesman Mike Barber, 5,336 students in traditional schoolshave turned in opt-out forms (charter schools keep their own numbers). That means roughly 15% of students in Manatee'straditional K-12 schoolshave opted out and 85% are expected to wear masks.

Administrators in both districts have said that makingmasks "mandatory" with an opportunity to opt out was no different than the existing mask-optional policy that Sarasota and Manatee began the year with.

While 85% of the district has, in theory, agreed to wear a mask in Manatee, there is no penalty if a student does not have an opt-out but still does not wear a mask.

Manatee School Board member Mary Foreman said that the lack of enforcement makes the policy far less effective.

"I am hearing from family members in the community that there may be three kids in a class of 20 that are wearing a mask...Obviously we arenot enforcing it," Foreman said.

Earlier this year: An unprecedented school year comes to an end in Sarasota

Also: Summer is here! School year comes to an end for the Manatee County School District

"We can only hold the superintendent accountable, but she needs to hold the schools and the principals accountable," she said.

Board Chairman Charlie Kennedy said to give the new policy time, and that as the case numbers rise kids will begin to see the importance of masking up so that events like homecoming or school plays don't get canceled.

"It is going to take some time," Kennedy said. "Anecdotally I'm hearing that (mask-wearing) is definitely higher now than it was the first week of school."

The Sarasota County School District is rolling out a mask-mandatory policy this week, with plans to begin enforcing mandatory masking at schools on Monday.

School officials have been developing rules for enforcement this week that wereexpected to go out to families Thursday evening, district spokesman Craig Maniglia said.

Sarasota's mask policy will remain in effect for the next 90 days, but it could be suspended earlier if the single-day positivity rate falls below 8% for three consecutive days.

The district has added a positivity rate tracker to its website. As of Thursday morning, the single-day positivity rate for the past three days had been 15.9% on Monday, 16% on Tuesday and 14.74% on Wednesday.

Ryan McKinnon covers schools for the Herald-Tribune. Connect with him at ryan.mckinnon@heraldtribune.com or on Twitter: @JRMcKinnon. Support the Sarasota Herald-Tribune by subscribing today.

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Schools set to surpass last year's COVID-19 cases in first three weeks of this school year - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an 84-year old male from Marion County, a 50-year old male from Nicholas County, a 78-year old male from Raleigh County, a 92-year old female from Raleigh County, an 81-year old male from Cabell County, a 64-year old male from Upshur County, a 76-year old male from Marshall County, a 92-year old female from Berkeley County, a 50-year old male from Monroe County, a 68-year old male from Upshur County, an 81-year old female from Nicholas County, a 94-year old male from Marion County, and a 66-year old male from Pocahontas County.

This is another solemn day for West Virginia as we experience more deaths, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. Our hearts go out to these families for their loss. Please take every precaution to slow the spread of this disease including vaccination.

CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (1,839), Berkeley (14,191), Boone (2,358), Braxton (1,175), Brooke (2,381), Cabell (10,142), Calhoun (450), Clay (641), Doddridge (693), Fayette (4,020), Gilmer (983), Grant (1,393), Greenbrier (3,199), Hampshire (2,098), Hancock (2,999), Hardy (1,703), Harrison (6,879), Jackson (2,488), Jefferson (5,207), Kanawha (17,231), Lewis (1,640), Lincoln (1,809), Logan (3,658), Marion (5,151), Marshall (3,978), Mason (2,385), McDowell (1,856), Mercer (5,824), Mineral (3,207), Mingo (3,082), Monongalia (10,050), Monroe (1,404), Morgan (1,418), Nicholas (2,177), Ohio (4,775), Pendleton (785), Pleasants (1,029), Pocahontas (775), Preston (3,161), Putnam (5,974), Raleigh (7,949), Randolph (3,384), Ritchie (831), Roane (790), Summers (950), Taylor (1,480), Tucker (632), Tyler (884), Upshur (2,492), Wayne (3,649), Webster (693), Wetzel (1,689), Wirt (505), Wood (8,825), Wyoming (2,393).

Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. 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. Please visit http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

West Virginians 12 years and older are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. To learn more about the vaccine, or to find a vaccine site near you, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965. West Virginians ages 12 and older who have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine can register for the second Do it for Babydog: Save a life, Change your life vaccine sweepstakes by visiting doitforbabydog.wv.gov.

Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is available today in Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Fayette, Hampshire, Jefferson, Lincoln, Mineral, Mingo, Monroe, Ohio, Taylor, and Wood counties.

Barbour County

9:00 AM 12:00 PM, Barbour County Health Department, 109 Wabash Avenue, Philippi, WV

3:00 PM 7:00 PM, Junior Volunteer Fire Department, 331 Row Avenue, Junior, WV

Berkeley County

1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Shenandoah Community Health, 99 Tavern Road, Martinsburg, WV

10:00 AM 5:00 PM, 891 Auto Parts Place, Martinsburg, WV

4:30 PM 8:00 PM, Dorothy McCormack Building, 2000 Foundation Way, Martinsburg, WV

Boone County

12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Boone County Health Department, 213 Kenmore Drive, Danville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Fayette County

3:00 PM 6:00 PM, Gateway Center, 1 Greyhound Lane, Smithers, WV

Hampshire County

10:00 AM 5:00 PM, Hampshire County Health Department, 16189 Northwestern Turnpike, Augusta, WV

Jefferson County

10:00 AM 6:00 PM, Hollywood Casino, 750 Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV

Lincoln County

9:00 AM 3:00 PM, Lincoln County Health Department, 8008 Court Avenue, Hamlin, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Mineral County

10:00 AM 4:00 PM, Mineral County Health Department, 541 Harley O. Staggers Drive, Keyser, WV

Mingo County

10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Seven Eleven, 11 West Second Avenue, Williamson, WV

Monroe County

1:00 PM 3:00 PM, Monroe County Health Department, 200 Health Center Drive, Union, WV

Ohio County

9:00 AM 3:30 PM, Ohio Valley Medical Center (former main entrance/turning circle), 2000 Eoff Street, Wheeling, WV

Taylor County

2:00 PM 4:00 PM, Grafton-Taylor County Health Department, 718 West Main Street (parking lot at Operations Trailer), Grafton, WV

Wood County

12:00 PM 4:00 PM, New Hope Baptist Church, 1777 Rosemar Road, Vienna, WV

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COVID-19 Daily Update 8-26-2021 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

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2nd Austin police officer dies from COVID-19 in as many days - KXAN.com