ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Cases and deaths linked to COVID-19 are increasing locally, and area health departments are looking to the state for guidance on booster shots.

Belmont County Deputy Health Commissioner Robert Sproul reported two more deaths related to the pandemic Monday, bringing Belmont County’s count to 121.

The most recent deaths are women in their 60s.

Sproul reported 243 active cases and said there are four people hospitalized with the virus, most recently including a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s. Neither are vaccinated.

Sproul’s office was still compiling numbers Monday, but as of Sunday there had been a total of 6,738 confirmed cases since the pandemic’s onset, with 6,383 recoveries.

State records continue to differ from those reported locally. According to coronavirus.ohio.gov, there have been a total of 6,467 cases in Belmont County and 6,050 recoveries, with 181 deaths — up from prior reports of 179.

“Still waiting on guidance from (the Ohio Department of Health) about the booster shot,” Sproul said in a text message. “No idea on the number of (people) needing the booster.”

The National Institute of Health is considering whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to more vulnerable people by this fall.

Harrison County also is dealing with a surge of cases. According to the Harrison County Health Department, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance Friday on booster doses for those who are moderately to severely immunocompromised. The health department is waiting for clarification from the state and has reached out to local care providers.

Harrison County Health Administrator Garen Rhome said the department’s Facebook page will be updated with greater frequency.

“For the foreseeable future I’m going to go back to offering public numbers/case counts every day or very close to every day,” he said, adding the more infectious delta variant may be responsible for the increase.

“There’s a lag in that reporting, because a positive COVID test can be made locally,” he said. “That will detect any COVID variant or strain, but it doesn’t differentiate as to what strain it is.

“For monitoring, a selection of positive samples are sent for additional testing, and that’s when the genomic sequencing or serotyping is done to determine more details about what strain it is or what variant it is.”

He said results were received from positive samples taken July 23.

“We presume that many if not most of the cases in Harrison County and the surrounding areas are the delta variant, because most of the serotyping across the country — it’s approaching high 90s now — most of these genomic tests are delta. We presume that it’s been in the county for at least that long, at least a month. It’s moving around, and it’s important to know because it’s more contagious.”

He said there have been 1,214 total cases in Harrison County since the pandemic’s onset, and 1,166 recoveries. There are 24 active cases and four people currently hospitalized. Rhome said age and not being fully vaccinated are factors, although one hospitalized individual in their 90s was fully vaccinated but possibly was infected by someone who was unvaccinated.

According to coronavirus.ohio.gov, there have been a total of 1,195 in Harrison County cases and 1,113 recoveries, with 38 deaths related to the virus.

As of last week, the Monroe County Health Department reported 1,417 total cases since the pandemic’s onset, with 1,354 recoveries. There are 21 active cases and there have been 40 deaths.

Spokeswoman Robin Grover said the latest numbers will be released today, but she said cases are on the rise.

“We’ve gone up 19 cases since Friday. It is definitely spreading quickly in the county. We do have a couple of individuals hospitalized. As far as delta, we know it’s in the community. The state isn’t really tracking that on a county basis,” she said. “We definitely want people to think about what they’re doing and where they’re going, consider masking and definitely good handwashing. Cases are definitely going up.”

Grover did not have any information about the age and status of the two hospitalized people but said they are not vaccinated.

“It’s kind of still all over the place. Some people are incredibly sick and other people just have minor symptoms like loss of taste and smell and congestion,” she said. “Very typical of COVID. Everything that you don’t expect and don’t want to see. … It’s definitely back.”

According to coronavirus.ohio.gov, there have been 1,438 cases in Monroe County, 1,339 recoveries and 46 deaths associated with the virus.