by Kate Shunney
Between last Friday and this Tuesday, December 22, four more Morgan County residents’ deaths have been attributed to the COVID-19 respiratory illness.
The death county jumped from four county residents on Friday to eight on Sunday.
West Virginia health officials report the deaths on a rolling basis, but have said there is often a delay in reporting. That means the residents had died prior to last week, and the cause is only now being verified by the state.
The first death from COVID in Morgan County was reported on October 31. At that time, there were 156 total cases of the virus confirmed in county residents.
As of Tuesday, a total of 548 county residents have been infected by the virus and 8 have died with it.
Health department officials have said their focus is now on rolling out the state’s vaccination effort.
The health department has advised the public on what steps to take when a person has been exposed to someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19, or when they believe they may have been infected with the virus.
Individuals who believe they have had close contact with someone who is positive for COVID, whether they show symptoms or not, should be tested for the respiratory disease no sooner than five days after that close contact.
The West Virginia COVID map shows how many cases of the disease have been added in Morgan County during the last 7 days.
