T-L Photo/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH This natural gas well pad in the Belmont area is vacant Friday. This site already is in the production phase, but EQT halted all well completion processes at similar locations after a contractor who visited one of the sites tested positive for COVID-19.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County has four new cases of the novel coronavirus, and EQT Corp. shut down its completion operations until Sunday after a contractor who visited a well site in the county tested positive for COVID-19.

The new cases announced by Deputy Health Director Robert Sproul bring the total positive test results in the county to seven, with the number of active cases at five. Sproul said one of the newly diagnosed is the husband of a woman who tested positive earlier this week and had been quarantined. The man was quarantined with her.

“He will basically have to be in until he’s symptom-free for 72 hours. The other ones we have, they tested positive, we contacted them. We’re in the process of going through their contact list and contacting their people to be quarantined.”

He said the other three positive patients announced Friday likely contracted the disease while traveling to various places within the country. They were not part of a group but contracted the virus separately. These individuals are in their 30s, 40s and 60s and are all women. Some are quarantined with spouses or other family members.

According to Sproul, the couple and the three women all are reporting minor symptoms.

Sproul said people who have been in contact with these individuals will be quarantined at home for 14 days. As of Friday, Sproul’s department had received all but one of the patient’s contact lists.

“They have pretty mild symptoms. They’re doing OK. Nobody had any real severe … symptoms,” he said.

The county’s first two cases were announced March 13. They are a husband and wife in their 50s who apparently contracted the virus while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., in late February. The wife has since recovered; the husband was hospitalized and later released from the intensive care unit at Wheeling Hospital, according to a receptionist at his workplace. Sproul said the woman whose positive result was announced Wednesday had been in contact with this couple.

He said the five active cases likely had some symptoms before they were tested.

“They’re supposed to be symptomatic and have a doctor’s slip from their physician(in order to be tested),” Sproul said. “That’s what the private labs are requiring.”

He said the Ohio Department of Health has more stringent guidelines for people wanting to be tested.

“More people seem to be meeting the private labs’ requirements as opposed to the ODH requirements,” he said. “As more testing was taking place, there was the anticipation we would see more. They’re being told to quarantine and wait for the results of their testing. That way they’re not out in the public.”

Potential contact with the virus also has halted some operations by natural gas producer EQT.

“On March 25, EQT learned of one confirmed case of COVID-19 among our contractor base,” Josie Schultz, external communications manager with EQT, released in a statement Friday.

“Pursuant to CDC guidelines, we notified the EQT employees and contractors who came in direct contact with the affected contractor since the individual was last working on a well site in Belmont County, Ohio, on March 14. We asked them to self-quarantine until Sunday, March 29, which is the recommended 14-day self-quarantine period.

“At this time, we are not aware that any additional contractors or EQT employees are exhibiting any COVID-19 symptoms.”

She said all contractors and employees who were on any site visited by personnel who had been on the impacted site since March 14 have been asked to self-quarantine until Sunday.

This has resulted in a shutdown of all completion operations until 6 a.m. Sunday. These operations are tasks that occur after a well is drilled but before it is put into production.

Schultz said the company on Sunday will evaluate whether to resume operations. She said all EQT workplaces will be sanitized during the closure.

Sproul said natural gas and oil companies are designated as essential businesses by the Ohio Department of Health.

“They have to monitor their employees’ health. They have to maintain social distancing. They have to clean, sanitize,” Sproul said. “We’re keeping track, but we don’t go on the actual well sites. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources regulates oil and gas well sites. … Anything that happens off-site, we work with the employees and the employer on.”

Sproul declined to say if EQT’s decision was related to Belmont County’s newest cases, instead stressing the importance of everyone taking precautions such as social distancing.