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ELKINS -- Local health officials confirmed the county's third coronavirus-related death during Randolph County Emergency Management COVID-19 update conference call on Monday.
A 65-year old male from Elkins passed away over the weekend, as the state's death total linked to the virus has grown to 842. There are currently 19,691 active cases in the Mountain State, including 144 in Randolph County, according to Monday's statistics.
"They're really coming in too fast for us to count," said Bonnie Woodrum, the Randolph Elkins Health Department's infectious disease specialist. "We worked Sunday and were caught up, we thought, but we've got at least 20 more cases this morning. We've had some people finish their quarantine, but we've had new cases come in and make up the difference. "
Another thing concerning Woodrum is a recent change by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC's guideline had always been that an individual who has been in close contact with a person with COVID-19 must stay in quarantine for 14 days. That was changed by the CCD late last week and now that time period could be as short as seven days.
"We've had two dozen calls about the CDC quarantine guidelines," said Woodrum. "They (CDC) are saying that people who are contacts, not positive cases, can test on the fifth day and go back to work on the seventh day. We at the Randolph County Health Department are sticking to the guidelines that say the incubation period for the virus is two to 14 days, so our recommendation is that if you're a contact, that you quarantine for 14 days. If you have a positive case, then the quarantine is for 10 days after the start of symptoms, or after the date of the test.
"The science has not changed, the risk has not changed, so we will not be recommending those guidelines ourselves. It's going to result in people going back too soon and infecting others."
David Medical Center had admitted eight positive COVID-19 patients to their facility during the past 24 hours, officials said Monday, three of which were patients from Grant Memorial Hospital. None are currently requiring the use of a ventilator.
"The hospital has been busy," said DMC Liaison Officer Hollis Lipscomb. "We still have capacity, we have a couple ICU beds and a few med-surg beds available, which is about typical for what we have."
Of the COVID-19 patients at David Medical Center, none are currently requiring the use of a ventilator. As of Monday morning there were 610 West Virginians hospitalized for COVID-19, including 176 in intensive care.