West Virginia, once a vaccination pacesetter, is struggling against the Delta variant

[andhra_jp]

Just under 48 percent of West Virginia’s 18 and over population is fully vaccinated, the lowest of any state, according to federal data compiled by The New York Times.

The latest surge has enveloped West Virginia with a ferocity the virus had not shown before there, said the official running the state’s coronavirus response, Dr. Clay Marsh.

West Virginia’s seven-day average of new reported cases has neared record levels for all of September, hovering above 1,500 per day for most of the past week, according to data compiled by The New York Times

Dr. Marsh said the state was reducing the number of elective procedures and taking steps to ensure that hospitals were adequately staffed.

And while deaths are averaging just 12 a day, that is more than 41 percent of the state’s peak average for the pandemic, reached in January. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/us/west-virginia-covid-delta.html

[Pitta]