June Leffler, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Lowering Costs Of Diabetes Treatments, Once Again, A Goal For State Lawmakers

West Virginia legislators are once again hoping to lower healthcare costs for those living with diabetes.

Dem. House Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer and Rep. House Delegate Matthew Rohrbach will sponsor an upcoming bill. If passed, it would limit copays on equipment and supplies at $100, and non-insulin medication at $25 a month. These supplies include insulin pumps and personal glucose testing.

Delegate Rohrbach, who is also a practicing physician, says there are plenty of life-saving tools thanks to new technology.

“We’ve really advanced a tremendous amount, but unfortunately a lot of people don’t have access to this because of the cost,” he said at a virtual press briefing Tuesday.

Last year, lawmakers tackled the cost of insulin, capping it at $100 a month in HB4543. That dollar amount was a compromise between the House and Senate. Delegate Fleischauer is pushing the subject again. The new bill will call for the same $25 a month cap on insulin that she had hoped for last year.

If passed, only those with certain insurance plans would benefit. Anyone with federally managed plans, like Medicaid and Medicare, would not see a difference. The law would apply to public employees and certain people with private insurance.

WV Hits 2,000 COVID-19 Deaths, Making Strides Vaccinating At-Risk Groups

Gov. Jim Justice has recognized those lost to COVID-19 at every virtual press briefing, but today marked a milestone.

“We’re going to remember them, we’re going to thank them for all that they gave us every day,” Justice said.

West Virginia, on Friday, surpassed 2,000 deaths due to COVID-19. It took several months — from the start of the pandemic to mid December — for the death toll to creep up to 1,000. Six weeks later, the count doubled.

Still, health officials are hopeful given a recent downward trend in daily active cases, despite predictions of a post-Christmas surge.

“We are surprised as well that we didn’t see a bump in our numbers,” said State Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad. “But I think we need to also be vigilant and not take it for granted.”

As the state begs the federal government for more vaccines, Amjad said it’s too soon to see vaccinations curb a significant loss of life.

One promising announcement of the day: all willing nursing home and assisted living residents have been fully vaccinated.

The state also announced efforts to close the racial gap in COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.

“With proper resources, we’ll be the same way recognized across the country as vaccinating people of color as we are for the general population,” said the Rev. James Patterson. He works with the Partnership of African American Churches, which has been contracted to help get testing out to Black communities throughout the state. At the press briefing, Patterson and state officials said they’d carry those same efforts into vaccination.

All 55 counties will have a vaccination clinic next week. The number of doses available will be based on the senior population of each county.

Since Monday, 133,000 West Wirginians have registered to get their first shot using the new, centralized Everbridge system. Anyone can register online now.

Open Enrollment for Affordable Care Act Plans Starts Soon for Those Who Are Uninsured

Uninsured Americans can once again buy into federally subsidized health insurance.

In a first step to bolster the federal Affordable Care Act, President Joe Biden ordered the reopening of the federal health insurance exchange for three months, starting in February.

More than 19,000 West Virginians signed up in November and December, but plenty of people remain uninsured, said Jeremy Smith, the project manager for WV Navigator. The federally funded non-profit helps people understand their health insurance options, private or public.

“We know that there’s also a lot of people that are still uninsured, that may not know about this option. So we’re excited they’re going to have this new opportunity to sign up,” Smith said.

As of 2019, 6.5 percent of West Virginians did not have health insurance, according to the state’s insurance commissioner. That number could be higher now due to COVID-19. Job loss often means a loss in health coverage, and thousands of West Virginians became unemployed in the first few months of the pandemic.

“A lot of people I’ve talked to have the idea that they’ll just go without until they get their next job offer comes. And I really encourage everybody to look at other options,” Smith said.

Smith and his colleagues are already taking appointments ahead of the federal exchange’s open enrollment date of Feb.15.

Marshall Professor Gives Historical Context In COVID-19 Podcast

A new podcast highlights the “unsung heroes” in the fight against COVID-19 in West Virginia. Marshall University Professor Chris White interviews city and university officials, physicians and essential workers in the state. These guests reflect on their work, uncertainties and how far they’ve come in this open forum. A book-worm and lifelong learner, White also draws on historic examples of other global pandemics that have helped him contextualize our new normal. He spoke with June Leffler about the new podcast.

His podcast “COVID in West Virginia Podcast with Chris White” is available wherever you get your podcasts. He’s currently teaching a course called “The Path to COVID” and is co-authoring a book on Appalachian epidemics.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Leffler: Give me a sense of how you started on this, because my understanding is your interest in epidemics was starting even before COVID.

White: Correct. I was originally trained at the University of Kansas, as a historian of Latin American and US history. And my main area of interest within that was on the drug wars. So the more I’ve been teaching and researching about drugs and writing about it, the more I’ve become aware that a lot of these drugs that people are dying from today, were actually first widely distributed in order to treat epidemics back in the 19th century. So things like heroin and codeine and morphine and other drugs, in addition to alcohol, were widely prescribed over the counter in order to treat things like influenza, cholera, and many other infectious diseases.

Leffler: I would love to know how COVID compares to some other epidemics that you’ve been learning about recently.

White: The two that recently come to mind are the Asian and Hong Kong flus in 1957 and 1968. And collectively, they probably killed about 4 million people and that was when the population of the world was maybe, you know, half of what it is right now. It seems like the scale of infectivity and the fatality rates are similar. If we want to look at maybe how COVID is more dangerous than some others, then we can look to SARS. And interestingly enough SARS in 2003, had a high fatality rate, maybe 10% of the people who contracted it died. And they descended really quickly as well. Because of the high fatality rate, it actually may have contributed towards it burning out quickly, and not spreading so fast. Whereas with COVID, because people often times will be asymptomatic, they are spreading it unknowingly. And there’s also a long latency period where it’s just waiting around and then you know, people can contract it and it could take two weeks before they have any symptoms. And that’s different from what we saw with other past diseases. But if you look at HIV, it would sometimes take years before someone would come down with AIDS and it would actually start killing somebody.

There are really no two infectious diseases that are alike. Our imaginations really are limiting us on how we can respond to this. So if we imagine that COVID is the same as SARS, then that’s wrong. You know, that’s not enough historical examples. But if we think about how the Spanish Flu in 1918 killed 100 million people worldwide, or how the plague killed tens of millions of people, maybe a third of Europe in the night in the 1340s and 50s, that helps us understand the high level of possibilities of lethality that a pandemic can can cause. So we have to be aware of all those.

Leffler: Who are the kinds of people that you’re interviewing and why are you bringing them onto your show?

White: Having a podcast that’s specifically about our state, I think helps to highlight the fact that we have our own Anthony Fauci here. The more and more people listen to our podcast, the more they’ll get a sense of the interconnectedness of all these incredibly qualified and energetic people who the average citizen in West Virginia actually can have access to. That’s really where the work is being done is at the local and the state level, much more so than at the national level. The actual day to day work, and thinking and talking and planning sessions.That’s happening by human beings on the ground all around us and that’s and people who are close to us.

Gov. Jim Justice Inaugurated For A Second Term

State Supreme Court Justices, elected officials and Gov. Jim Justice were sworn in this afternoon, marking a subdued — and socially distanced — inauguration ceremony that was held outdoors at the state capitol.

It was an occasion to thank West Virginia’s public servants and reflect on the struggles of the past year.

Cedrick Farmer sang the national anthem at the 2021 inauguration. Farmer has performed in Charleston Light Opera Guild and West Virginia State theater productions.

Members of the state’s coronavirus task force thanked essential, medical and military personnel, while remembering those lost to COVID-19. More than 1,800 people have died in the state since the pandemic began.

Coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh said West Virginians made the best of a devastating year.

“I’d like to thank each citizen for their commitment to protecting themselves and each other,” he said.

Justice noted efforts to improve tourism, curb opioid addiction and rescue three trapped miners during his first term. He touted West Virginia as a “diamond in the rough,” promoting the state’s beauty, its values and its economic potential that he said was simply waiting for outsiders to discover.

He said it was an honor to serve a second term as his family sat nearby on the capitol steps — and as cameras panned to Baby Dog, his English bulldog, who made a leashed appearance.

Baby Dog, Gov. Jim Justice’s English bulldog, says hello to the crowd at the 2021 inauguration.

“I thought really and truly if I gave four years of my life to serve and do it right, that would be enough, but there’s more to do,” he said.

Looking to the nation’s capital, Justice thanked former President Donald Trump and congratulated President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.

At a virtual press briefing Thursday, Justice said he’s already spoken with the new administration regarding COVID-19 vaccine supplies.

West Virginians 70 And Older Now Eligible For Vaccination, Following Federal Recommendations

The state has lowered its age of vaccine eligibility from 80 to 70 years and older, Gov. Jim Justice announced at a press conference Wednesday.That age requirement could drop to 65 as early as next week, the governor added.

The state has lowered its age of vaccine eligibility from 80 to 70 years and older, Gov. Jim Justice announced at a press conference Wednesday.

That age requirement could drop to 65 as early as next week, the governor added.

The state’s response comes after the Trump administration instructed states to push out more vaccine doses. Federal officials are calling on states to vaccinate anyone 65 and older and those with underlying conditions as soon as possible.

“As quickly as we know we’re going to have that significant amount of vaccines that are going to give us the ability to go to 65, we’re going to 65,” Justice said. “So we’re going to follow the CDC guidelines as soon as I know we’ve got the vaccines.”

All West Virginians Can Now Pre-register For The COVID-19 Vaccine

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More than 100,000 initial doses of the vaccine have been administered in West Virginia, according to data from the state’s Department of Health and Human Resources. Justice said that accounts for more than 75,000 people who have received an injection, but that number could be much higher due to a data lag. Justice said the state administered almost 10,000 in a 24-hour window.

Under the CDC’s new guidelines, the feds hope to push out more vaccines to states with higher elderly and at-risk populations.

Gov. Justice said the state received another 35,000 doses Wednesday, and he’s hoping for more.

“The CDC is saying over and over and over, we want to send more vaccines to the people that are demonstrating that they’re getting in people’s arms. That’s our entire strategy,” Justice said.

During the press conference, Gov. Justice repeated the successes of the state’s vaccine rollout. He wants West Virginia to bask in that spotlight.

“Little ole West Virginia, there was thought of for years, hundreds of years, as the place where maybe we were backward or dark or dingy,” Justice said. “At the end of the day, West Virginians are so good, so smart, so innovative.”

West Virginia COVID-19 czar Dr. Clay Marsh agreed, saying “Right now our country and our world needs role models, and West Virginia has been that.”

Justice has appeared on national news outlets, such as CNBC, for the state’s impressive vaccine rollout. West Virginia’s per capita rate of vaccine distribution is one of the best in the nation, according to CDC data.

Justice suggested local and state reporters haven’t given that story it’s due time.

One topic Justice did not want to focus on was Trump. West Virginia’s Homeland Security Advisor Tom Kirk spoke at the press conference, saying his agency has not encountered any credible threats leveled against the state capitol ahead of local and national inaugurations. He says he has spoken with state police, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FBI and other agencies.

“To say that, that we have no credible threats in our region doesn’t mean that we’re not remaining vigilant. In fact, just the opposite,” Kirk said.

Justice says the state will soon have more information on mobile vaccine clinics and financial assistance for renters and landlords.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the state reported 1,671 people in West Virginia have died from Covid-19.