WEST VIRGINIA (WOAY) – While in April of this year the number of state hospitalizations due to Covid-19 was just at 77%, that number now seems to have more than doubled.
As of Thursday, the number of hospitalizations sat at 330 Covid patients, with 39 in the ICU’s and five on ventilators.
It’s a staggering uptick that retired Major General James Hoyer, who is now currently the director of the State Joint Task Force Agency says could lead to a peak by Labor Day.
The main concern of this is not enough hospital beds due to staffing issues.
“Right now we are on a path should things not change, to some time right around Labor Day timeframe to be at that 500 mark in the hospitals,” Hoyer says. “So, again, continuing to monitor these things, Governor presses us daily to make sure we’re on top of these things and will continue to work with that.”
The BA5 Covid variant is currently the most dominant variant in the country, making up 70% of cases.
However, it was also announced Thursday that a new vaccine is on its way. More information on that is expected to be provided by some time next week.
