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Dear reader,

The last few weeks have been full of uncertainty for many of you in our eight-county distribution region when it comes to the COVID-19 coronavirus. We have been providing you with daily updates on how we've been covering the crisis here at The Inter-Mountain and the resources we have made available to you have hopefully kept you and your loved ones up-to-date and prepared in the coming weeks....

First of all, as you may or may not know, our office is currently not open to the public and a large portion of our staff is now working from home, with only essential employees at our main office in downtown Elkins. Our reporters will still be out and about covering events and bringing the latest and most important local news to you each day. Just as you are with your families, we are assessing each day on how to best keep our employees safe and healthy so that they can continue to bring you the latest local news on how COVID-19 is affecting and altering our way of life.

Second, we've devoted a large portion of our reporting resources to coverage of the coronavirus and that will continue. Over the past two weeks, for example, we've produced dozens of stories on how the virus is impacting our region. We've looked into and reported on how funerals are being handled now that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are requiring Americans to limit gatherings to 10 or fewer people; we've talked with local nursing homes about how they are keeping their residents and staff safe, and also adjusting visitation policies so residents can stay in contact with their families. We've spoken with local restaurants on how they're adjusting to life with only delivery or to-go customers; and we've provided a daily list of cancellations and postponements of public events, blood drives and other gatherings so that you can remain informed.

We have many other important local stories planned for the coming days, including looking at how local doctors and nurses are using telehealth techonology to provide services to their patients during the pandemic; how local stores which have been deemed essential businesses are changing their policies to safely serve the public; and how local hospitals are dealing with an increase in patients that may have come in contact with the coronavirus.

To help you sort through all this information, we've also added a section on our website labeled "Following the Coronavirus," (www.theintermountain.com/news/coronavirus/), devoted solely to coverage of COVID-19. This section contains all of the latest local, state, national and international coverage of COVID-19 and how it is reshaping life across the globe. We're continually updating this section so you can remain informed on everything from business closings to new numbers of those testing positive for the virus.

Last, we ask that you and your loved ones stay safe as we collectively go through this challenging time. We will do our part to keep you as up-to-date as possible with local news from a staff that you can trust. Local news matters, now more than ever, and we work each day, in all that we do, to remain your trusted local news source.

Coronavirus

Marsh: A new COVID vaccine coming this month

CHARLESTON — A Tyler County resident was among three people in West Virginia who died in the last week from the COVID-19 coronavirus, the Department of Health and Human Resources said. The department in its weekly pandemic report reported the death of an 85-year-old woman from Tyler ...

DMC asks staff to wear masks temporarily

ELKINS — Davis Medical Center is temporarily asking staff to wear masks inside the hospital due to a “temporary and isolated” issue involving COVID-19, an official said. “This has been a temporary situation as we experienced an outbreak of COVID among staff in our family practice ...

Healthcare officials warn COVID-19 may spike soon

ELKINS — Local healthcare officials want the public to be aware that COVID-19 is still relevant and that there has recently been a small spike in positive test numbers among area residents. “Our numbers aren’t up dramatically for COVID, but they are increasing all over the state,” ...

FDA advisors endorse updating COVID vaccines

(AP) — The COVID-19 vaccines are on track for a big recipe change this fall. Today’s vaccines still contain the original coronavirus strain, the one that started the pandemic — even though that was long ago supplanted by mutated versions as the virus rapidly evolves. The Food and Drug ...

Capito pleased with end to vaccine mandate

PARKERSBURG — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she’s pleased the annual defense authorization bill will include an end to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the military but disappointed it will not deliver environmental permitting reform. “We’ve already lost 8,000 members of the ...

Justice: COVID won’t be added to vax list

CHARLESTON — In an effort to stem the flow of rumors and conspiracy theories, Gov. Jim Justice said Monday that West Virginia would not be adding COVID-19 vaccinations to the list of childhood vaccinations required for children to enter schools. Speaking during a COVID-19 virtual briefing ...

COVID

If you’re going by the numbers, navigating today’s COVID-19 landscape can be a bit tricky, as changes in reporting mean there is no longer a clear picture of hospitalization numbers, vaccinated versus unvaccinated, positive test results … anything, really. For example, what we know ...

New booster vaccine on its way to region

ELKINS — Health officials are hoping that a new vaccine booster which arrived in West Virginia on Monday will be the answer against the ongoing battle with the Omicron strains of COVID-19. Since last Thanksgiving, the Omicron variant has been the predominant strain of those infected ...

COVID-19

State health care officials are watching changes in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations carefully, and have decided it might be time to prepare for another challenge to the hospitals and health care systems that haven’t quite caught their breath from the last round. On Aug. 22, the West ...

CDC drops quarantine for COVID-19

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s top public health agency relaxed its COVID-19 guidelines Thursday, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with an infected person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said people no ...

Supply Chain

Long-term effects of the pandemic are creating a challenge for more than just individuals and families. Businesses large and small are hurting because of what COVID-19 has done to the global supply chain. In fact, 90% of businesses reported disruptions because of the virus back in April ...

COVID cases spiking in Randolph

ELKINS — With active COVID-19 case numbers continuing to rise locally and across West Virginia, health officials are becoming increasingly concerned with the direction the virus is headed. “Our biggest concern is that we really don’t know how many cases are really out there,” ...

Fauci: Virus under better control in U.S.

(AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday the coronavirus is under better control in the United States. but the pandemic isn’t over — and the challenge is how to keep improving the situation. “We are in a different moment of the pandemic,” said Fauci, the nation’s top infectious ...

State’s active COVID -19 cases rising

CHARLESTON — Active COVID-19 cases have increased three straight days in West Virginia, according to the statistics from the state Department of Health and Human Services. The low this week was 308 active cases on Tuesday. Active cases on Friday were 437. The pandemic high during the delta ...

Verdict on lockdowns

What were the benefits and costs of the COVID-19 restrictions implemented over the last two years? It’s a good time to ask that question, especially now that the masks are coming off and the lockdowns are canceled. One useful scorecard comes from the prestigious National Bureau of Economic ...

2 local counties have no COVID cases

ELKINS — Active COVID-19 case totals have fallen to zero in two local counties. On Thursday, the number of virus-related hospitalizations in the state — at 193 — had fallen below 200 patients for the first time since August. That number dropped to 171 on Friday, with 43 of those ...

Returning to normalcy

Are we returning to normalcy? The word “normalcy,” as history buffs know, was used (but not invented) by our only journalist president, Warren G. Harding, to sum up his 1920 campaign. Normalcy was political shorthand for returning to normal times after a European war, prosecutions of ...

COVID and the Capitol

For the second year in a row, the West Virginia Press Association’s Legislative Lookahead went all virtual on Friday instead of the in-person event we normally have each year at the Culture Center in Charleston. The event was originally supposed to be in-person, but a combination of someone ...

Stay home or work sick? Omicron poses a conundrum

(AP) — As the raging omicron variant of COVID-19 infects workers across the nation, millions of those whose jobs don’t provide paid sick days are having to choose between their health and their paycheck. While many companies instituted more robust sick leave policies at the beginning of ...

Chicago’s COVID-19 fight with teachers hangs over a second week

CHICAGO (AP) — Talks between Chicago school leaders and the teachers’ union resumed Sunday amid a standoff over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety measures that canceled three days of classes and loomed over the start of another week in the nation’s third-largest ...