Tag: Bill Crouch

As W.Va.’s Virus Numbers Trend Upward, Officials Make No Moves Toward Shut Down

As ballot-counting continues nationwide to determine the outcome of the presidential election, new cases of the coronavirus continue to surge. More than 100,000 new cases were counted in the U.S. in just a single day this week – a record. And in West Virginia, 540 new cases of the virus were counted in the past 24 hours.

Gov. Jim Justice said in his latest virtual press briefing that West Virginia has passed the three percent cumulative positivity rate of virus spread. Jump back to the end of April, as the governor announced the state’s reopening plan, 3 percent mark was a determining factor, in which the governor said he would close down the state again.

“Everybody right now is on super-high alert,” Justice said. “Our number of 3 percent that we came up with a long time ago, there’s lots of stuff that has changed since that point in time. And this shouldn’t be a line in the sand that says, you know, this is what we’re going to do, if we cross this, we’re gonna shut down the whole universe … but everybody is awfully concerned.”

Justice did not say if he would shut the state down soon, but noted that he and his team of experts are watching things closely.

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Dr. Bill Crouch explained the determining model has been adjusted based on how much testing is going on. Officials say the focus now is to encourage people to get tested to find asymptomatic carriers.

“We’ve said all along that we have to learn more about this disease as we go forward,” Crouch said. “And we have to change our approach to the disease based upon what we’ve learned … As we learned that the incentive to test was less, looking at just the infection rate, we realized we had to change the system … to get people to test.”

State officials continue to urge West Virginians to practice social distancing, wear masks and take advantage of free testing opportunities around the state to lower the risk of spread.

Meanwhile, 15 more people have died from COVID-19-related causes in the state since Wednesday. There have been more than 500 new cases in the past day, and 280 West Virginians are in the hospital with the potentially deadly virus. Of that figure, 93 are in the ICU and 31 are on ventilators.

These numbers, according to DHHR’s COVID-19 dashboard, have either been climbing in recent weeks or holding steady.

There are also more than 90 confirmed cases in West Virginia’s public schools, which equates to 19 outbreaks. Justice insists these are manageable numbers but also says he is concerned.

Nearly 60 outbreaks have been reported in the state’s long-term care facilities and 17 outbreaks in churches.

There are more than 6,100 active cases of the virus as of Friday afternoon, up by more than 1,200 since Friday of last week.

W.Va. Gov Urges People To 'Live Our Lives' Amid Virus Concerns

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice urged state residents Wednesday to “live our lives” despite the emerging threat of the new coronavirus.

Justice held a news briefing along with Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch at the Capitol to discuss steps West Virginia is taking and to give common-sense advice on how people should protect themselves.

There are no known cases of the virus that causes COVID-19 thus far in West Virginia. On Wednesday, Washington state reported a 10th death while California announced its first.

The briefing came after Justice held a private roundtable with administration and medical officials. The purpose of the meeting was to make “absolutely certain that we’re ready, God forbid, if we do have a situation here in West Virginia,” Justice said. “We’re trying to do exactly what our jobs are. And that is, to always never have a surprise.

“There’s a situation worldwide, and we want to be diligent with what we do.”

Crouch said the risk that the virus will arrive in West Virginia is low, especially due to the very small number of international travelers coming to the state. But he predicts most states will see such cases “the way it’s moving.”

Justice said residents should not cancel travel plans.

“That’s not necessary,” he said. “We have to live our lives. We’ve got all the horsepower that’s on top of this to the very best of all of our abilities. We don’t know if a meteorite’s not going to hit us tomorrow. We’ve got to live our lives.”

Earlier Wednesday, West Virginia University issued an advisory to its campus community ahead of spring break, which is scheduled from March 14 to March 22. Dean of Students Corey Farris said in a statement that many students, faculty and staff will be traveling to a variety of locations, including where there are large crowds.

The university earlier this week canceled all scheduled university-sponsored trips abroad, affecting 217 students. The College of Creative Arts previously called off a student symphony’s planned trip to China.

West Virginia Hires Outside Counsel To Handle Lawsuit Alleging Abuse In Foster Care System

West Virginia officials named in a federal class action lawsuit involving the state’s foster care system have retained outside counsel.

The lawsuit filed October 1 on behalf of 12 foster care children says Gov. Jim Justice, Department of Health & Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch and other state officials have failed to protect the rights of nearly 6,800 children under the state’s guardianship.

The 100-page-plus complaint says West Virginia’s foster children are housed in temporary shelters, hotels, institutions, or expensive out-of-state for-profit facilities where they never see a caseworker and are subjected to abuse. 

Days after the suit was filed, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office issued a request for proposals for outside counsel to handle the case.

Spokespersons for the Governor’s office and DHHR confirmed Monday that Washington-D.C. based law firm Brown and Peisch was granted a contract at a rate of $575 an hour for legal fees.

“There were five bidders and DHHR narrowed the selection to those with experience with this type of litigation and picked the firm with the lowest bid,” DHHR spokewoman Allison Adler said in a statement. 

Macia Lowry, executive director of A Better Childhood — one of the organizations representing plaintiffs in the case — said they agreed to extend a deadline for the state to respond. Attorneys for the state originally had until this week to respond to the complaint — but with that extension granted, Lowry said the state now has until December 2. 

She said the selection of a firm outside of West Virginia — and the case being represented exclusively by outside counsel — is unlike similar cases A Better Childhood has handled. 

“We have never, I think, seen a case where a state was solely represented by outside counsel,” Lowry said, noting that her organization has been involved in similar litigation in other states. “So, I think that was a little bit of a surprise to us.” 

Medicaid Savings to Apply to Other W.Va. Programs

West Virginia Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch says $160 million in savings from the state’s Medicaid program will be applied to other programs.

Crouch cites program changes that have improved efficiencies in the program providing health care coverage to low-income West Virginians.

State budget officials say the nearly $4 billion Medicaid budget, about 73 percent federally funded, has belatedly received an increased share of federal support, freeing up state money.

Crouch says the unused state money will be redirected to other areas in the department including child protective services and cost increases at state hospitals and economic development.

Union Barred, Called for West Virginia Official's Firing

West Virginia has restricted a union at hospitals after it called for the ousting of the state health and human resources department secretary.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the state bureau for behavioral health and facilities informed the West Virginia Public Workers Union, UE Local 170, on June 8 that out of respect for patients, residents and visitors’ privacy, it would no longer be allowed to set up tables at certain facilities. Since 2008, the union has organized in front lobbies and break rooms of public hospitals and health care facilities to sign up employees, distribute information and address grievances.

On June 6 a union statement called for Secretary Bill Crouch to be fired. It referenced documents showing Crouch’s partial ownership of a firm his office interacted with on pending legislation.

Intellectual Developmental Disabilities Waiver At Risk Under Alternative Budget

State officials were in Huntington Friday to highlight an organization that could be impacted by cuts, if budget proposals aren’t passed by the legislature.

WV has a budget crisis. Governor Jim Justice’s budget proposal includes more than $450M in tax increases to cover the majority of a $500M deficit. But still programs like the Intellectual Developmental Disabilities Waiver are at risk.

The IDD Waiver works with special needs individuals to help them to become more independent through services like the Autism Services Center. An alternative budget Justice has presented, would make cuts to programs like the IDD Waiver Program.

Bill Crouch, the Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Resources was at Autism Services in Huntington Friday.

“But obviously a 25 percent reduction in the budget is going to reduce services and probably the number of slots in the waiver program,” Crouch said. “We’ve just added 50 to the enrollment of the IDD program right now.”

More than 4,600 people in the state receive services through the IDD Waiver.

The cuts to the IDD Waiver Program would hurt the Autism Center. Many people on the waiver receive services at the center.

Crouch says there are 1,260 people on a waiting list for the IDD Waiver program.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

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