The purpose of this advisory is to communicate important changes related to the reporting of communicable diseases in West Virginia. The following summarizes amendments to the West Virginia Legislative Rule, Reportable Diseases, Events and Conditions (64CSR-7):
- Changes SARS-CoV-2 to a Category III disease reportable by health care providers, facilities, and laboratories to the local health department within 72 hours of diagnosis. The Commissioner further amends previous Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) orders as follows:
- No longer require reporting of NEGATIVE results for non-NAAT tests (e.g., rapid or antigen test results).
- No longer require reporting of POSITIVE or NEGATIVE results of COVID-19 antibody tests
- Home tests are not required to be reported to the local health
- State sponsored surveillance screening programs are excluded from reporting POSITIVE non- NAAT tests when a confirmatory NAAT test is completed on the same day for any positive non- NAAT tests.
- No longer requires any death of a COVID-19 positive patient to be reported to the local health department (COVID-19 associated deaths will be confirmed through death certificates only).
- Removes Streptococcal disease, invasive Group B as a reportable
- Adds Perinatal Hepatitis C as a Category V disease reportable by health care providers, facilities, and laboratories to the State Health Department within one week of diagnosis.
The changes to the Reportable Disease Rule and supporting documentation can be found online with the Secretary of State: https://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/csr/rule.aspx?rule=64-07.
For questions about this advisory, contact the Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services, Division of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (DIDE) at (304)558-5358 ext.2