T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Belmont County Deputy Health Director Robert Sproul, left, speaks with Pultney Township Trustee Frank Shaffer on Wednesday. Active COVID-19 cases in Belmont County have passed 250.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — COVID-19 continues to expand in Belmont County, where Deputy Health Director Robert Sproul said more than 1,000 residents have been infected through the course of the pandemic.

Sproul told county commissioners Wednesday that 266 people have active cases of the virus, including six who are hospitalized. A total of 1,042 positive cases have been confirmed in the county since the pandemic’s onset.

Sproul said there have been 751 recoveries, including two people who had been hospitalized. A total of 25 people have died in Belmont County after contracting the virus, including nine inmates at Belmont Correctional Institute.

The number of cases continued to rise throughout the day Wednesday. During his initial report that morning, Sproul had placed total confirmed cases at 1,014 with 232 active cases.

“But again as I was leaving the office, my contact tracer was passing me with a stack of papers, so I’m probably going back to more,” Sproul said. “We’ve got a ton of people quarantined, so we’ve been doing contact tracing. We’re running into issues of trying to get hold of people. … The labs are so backed up, they’re contacting the people before they’re sending us the paperwork for us to be able to isolate them, so that’s been a nightmare. … We can’t isolate somebody until we have the documentation.”

Sproul said the health board is in the process of hiring another contact tracer, adding to the current staff of three part-time tracers.

“That was more than satisfactory up until now,” Sproul said of the number of staff.

He added reported cases have been linked to hair salons, weddings, funerals, school districts and gatherings.

“We’re working through it,” Sproul said.

The St. Clairsville-Richland City School District reported new cases this week and switched to remote learning. According to the district website, remote learning will continue through Friday.

“I believe right now, I think, we have three students, but I know they’ve had some teachers and students out being tested,” Sproul said of the district. “It’s kind of a rough number right now.”

Martins Ferry City School District also closed Monday due to a COVID case, but the campus was open again for in-person learning Wednesday after being closed Tuesday to accommodate voters on Election Day.

“The schools are being proactive. They’re trying to look to see how they can slow this down,” Sproul said. “I hope it slows down.”

Union Local School District sent out a message to parents, updating them that numerous students and staff at the elementary, middle and high schools are quarantined for exposure to the coronavirus that occurred outside of the schools. Superintendent Ben Porter said there are no plans to shift to remote learning at this time.

Commissioner Jerry Echemann commented that although there has been an increase in cases, there have been no new deaths of county residents for months.

“Now (hospitals are) getting more familiar with how to deal with it,” Sproul said. “So when they’re seeing people start to go a little bit the wrong way, they’re able to react quicker.”

Buckeye Local School District in neighboring Jefferson County has also shut down for the next two weeks after an outbreak. Kim Leonard, superintendent of the school district, announced Monday that the schools would rely on remote learning for at least two weeks. There had been 19 positive cases reported within the school district at that time.

The district is working alongside the Jefferson County Health Department, which released a statement Tuesday encouraging all Buckeye Local faculty, staff and students to begin self-quarantine immediately and continue until Nov. 16 due to possible exposure.

The health department recommends all students and staff do the following:

– Remain home;

– Stay in a seperate room from others in the home. If this is not possible, wear a facial covering when in the same room and stay 6 feet away from others in the home;

– Do not have visitors;

– Watch for fever, cough, shortness of breath or other COVID-19 symptoms;

– If possible, stay away from others, especially people who are at higher risk for getting very sick from COVID-19.

“It is imperative that those in quarantine that have a negative COVID-19 test remain at home during the entire quarantine period. Even if you test negative for COVID-19 or feel healthy, you should stay home, since symptoms may appear two to 14 days after exposure to the virus. It could take days before the infection shows up on a lab test,” the department states in a release.

Only those who have tested positive for the virus will be directly contacted by the health department at this time.

“Unfortunately, the list of contacts that has been provided is very extensive and prohibits individual, timely contact,” the health department continued.

Those with questions should contact the department at 740-283-8530.

All Buckeye Local athletic activities have been suspended until further notice.

Staff Writer Carri Graham contributed to this report.