W.Va. Governor. Jim Justice honored the more than 160 victims whose deaths were not properly reported today.
He read the ages, genders and counties of origin for a total of 165 victims during his conference on COVID-19 response.
The addition of the 165 and sixteen other deaths since Wednesday raises West Virginia’s death toll to 2,511 since the onset of the outbreak.
Forty health care facilities spread out over 30 counties failed to report properly information concerning deaths due to virus.
“I hate like crazy mistakes that are made and loved ones not respected like we should have respected them,” Justice said.
State Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad said reporting procedures are under review. The Wayne Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and the Berkeley Medical Center were originally listed among facilities. A further review has eliminated the facilities from the current list.
Amjad said the review process is a manual one and must take time.
“Everyone wants to make sure they are reporting accurately because it is important to the state as well as the facilities,” Amjad said Friday.
Over 80% of the unreported fatalities occurred in December and January.