CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Two more West Virginia residents have died from the coronavirus, pushing the state’s confirmed death count to 20, more than doubling the number from a week earlier, officials said Sunday.
The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department confirmed the death of an 80-year-old male patient from the Eastbrook Rehabilitation Center in Charleston. The patient tested positive for the virus earlier this month and was hospitalized, Eastbrook operator Stonerise Healthcare said in a statement.
And the state Department of Health and Human Resource said a 69-year-old man from Hampshire County died from the virus.
On Saturday, the DHHR reported the virus-related deaths of an 83-year-old man and an 88-year-old woman from Eldercare Health and Rehabilitation in the Jackson County community of Ripley.
The number of reported deaths in the state from the coronavirus stood at eight on April 12 and has more than doubled since. Gov. Jim Justice on Friday ordered that residents and staffers of all nursing homes in the state be immediately tested for the virus.
Nine other patients from the Eastbrook facility have tested positive for COVID-19, while 47 other patients at Eldercare have tested positive. Results are pending for 13 Eldercare patients and 63 staff members.
Health officials said at least 890 people statewide have tested positive for the virus out of 21,765 completed test results.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks, and the overwhelming majority of people recover. But some need respirators to survive, and with infections spreading rapidly, hospitals across the country are either bracing for a coming wave of patients, or already struggling to keep up.
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