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ELKINS -- With COVID-19 active case numbers spreading throughout the county at a rapid pace, local health officials are growing increasingly concerned.
The Randolph-Elkins Health Department was overwhelmed with new cases on Monday and Davis Medical Center now has 10 patients currently hospitalized with the coronavirus.
Because of the recent uptick in the community and the amount of patients being treated at DMC for COVID-19, the hospital is putting a hold on visitations from the community.
"We monitor our inpatient COVID percentage and if it goes over 10 percent we restrict visitations," said Tracy Fath, Davis Medical Center VP of Marketing and Planning. "Right now we are over 10 percent so we are not going to allow visitors. We will look at it on a daily basis and if the COVID population is under 10 percent, we will allow visitors. If the COVID rate is above 10 percent for that day, we are going to lock down visitations."
Currently, DMC has a COVID-positive rate of 29 percent and hospital representatives say the increase in COVID positive patients is likely due to a reduction in community mask usage, lessened mask restrictions and gatherings.
"We had been lucky to return to pre-COVID surge visitation guidelines until Monday, and for the safety of patients and staff, we'll enforce stricter rules to mitigate spread of the virus," said Dr. Catherine "Mindy" Chua, Davis Health System Chief Medical Officer. "There are vaccinations available to anyone who would like to be protected against COVID. Those who are hospitalized were not vaccinated."
Visitation for extenuating circumstances such as the birth of a child, or end of life will be allowed under specific guidelines.
"The active cases are coming in for us too fast to keep up," said Bonnie Woodrum, the Randolph-Elkins Health Department's infectious disease specialist. "Everybody in the county should know what to do to slow this down, but they're acting like this over and it's not. It's terrible, just awful."
Woodrum said at the start of the day there were 92 active cases in Randolph County, but by lunchtime there were an additional 30 new cases or more that had been reported at the Health Department.
After seeing the active case total flirt with single digits back on March 9 when there were just 11 cases reported, a steady increase has taken place and the numbers have continued to climb. At the start of April, there were 26 active cases reported during the first week of the month. One week later, that number doubled to 53, and for the past two weeks the county's numbers have been close to triple digits.
"This is all caused by people not taking precautions," said Woodrum. "Last year, when they had graduations and proms they took every precaution necessary and we didn't have these outbreaks. Now we're struggling so hard and it's because the community has decided it (COVID) is over."
Woodrum said unless things change radically the numbers will continue to rise, especially with a holiday weekend on the horizon where many social gatherings are likely to take place.
"If people are going to gather they should be taking precautions, because one person at a mass gathering can spread the virus to several people," Woodrum said. "Then they take it home to their families and they take it to work with them, that's the way the outbreaks are. Person-to-person, that's the way it's spread and you can not get away from that.
"We are trying to explain to people that the virus has not left the area. And the only way to keep numbers down and to protect the people that you love, is to take precautions. That and to get vaccinated."
Vaccinations are available through medical providers at Davis Health System, local pharmacies, and by making an appointment at the Randolph-Elkins Health Department.
"It's not as likely, if you've been vaccinated, that you are going to pass the virus on," said Woodrum. "But the possibility is still there. They (medical experts) used to think that it was a higher probability than it actually is, because now they're saying the probability is very low if you've been fully vaccinated. You can still pick it up and test positive, but it won't make you sick and chances are low that you're going to pass it on."
There are currently 5,499 active cases in West Virginia. There have been three reported deaths in the past 24 hours in the state.