Clay Marsh Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

COVID-19 Pandemic Wanes But Fight Continues

The COVID-19 pandemic may seem to be a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean the fight against it is over. Since last week, 16 West Virginians died from COVID-19. The nationwide average is 225 deaths a week. The West Virginia death total since the beginning of the pandemic is 8,083.

The COVID-19 pandemic may seem to be a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean the fight against it is over.

Since last week, 16 West Virginians died from COVID-19. The nationwide average is 225 deaths a week. The West Virginia death total since the beginning of the pandemic is 8,083.

Dr. Clay Marsh, West Virginia’s coronavirus czar, explained during Gov. Jim Justice’s press briefing that the Biden administration is looking to expand the original Operation Warp Speed, created under the Trump administration, with a new initiative called Next Gen.

“What’s exciting about this is that the Biden administration is committing to looking at this pandemic and learning from it to continue to evolve the tools that we have available for us to protect our population in case there is another variant that causes a problem,” he said.

The program has three phases:

One: Develop new antibodies that will resist changes in COVID-19.
Two: Develop a nasal vaccine for COVID 19.
Three: Develop a super COVID-19 vaccine that will cover a number of variants.

Marsh noted that about 92 percent of the population has some level of immunity to the virus but 90 percent of the deaths are happening in the older population with a weakened immune system. Another potentially more infectious variant is emerging.

“We had seen the XBB1.5 variant as the dominant variant for several months now,” he said. “In India, we’re starting to see a new variant that is emerging from this family tree and it’s called the XBB1.16 variant. And it has three additional mutations that make it more infectious. Make it able to avoid the immune system better.”

Marsh said while the variant is in the U.S., it hasn’t spread as quickly as it has in India so far.

“We always want to work around the world to get any clues about things that could interfere with our health and well being related to COVID here in the United States, and importantly in West Virginia,” he said.

Marsh also referenced a study from the medical journal Lancet that looked at how various states handled the pandemic.

He said West Virginia had the highest level of age and other medical illnesses in the country. But when the study adjusted for those problems, West Virginia ended up with the 14th best outcomes.

“It was the largest difference by far of any state in the country,” Marsh said. “We want to continue to remain diligent about COVID-19 and make sure we protect the people at the highest risk. We also want to turn our focus toward the other health problems we have in the state, and working together I believe can continue to be a model for others.”

W.Va. COVID-19 Deaths Pass 8,000 Mark

That number is higher than the population of eight counties in the state, according to U.S. Census data. That includes Wirt, Pendleton, Calhoun, Tucker, Gilmour, Pleasants, Doddridge and Pocahontas counties. CDC data indicates more than 2,600 people in the state have died from the virus on average per year.

More than 8,000 West Virginians have now died from COVID-19.

Twenty-nine deaths were announced statewide Wednesday morning by the Department of Health and Human Resources’ COVID-19 dashboard. That brings the total number of deaths to 8,005.

That number is higher than the population of eight counties in the state, according to U.S. Census data. That includes Wirt, Pendleton, Calhoun, Tucker, Gilmer, Pleasants, Doddridge and Pocahontas counties. CDC data indicates more than 2,600 people in the state have died from the virus on average per year.

For comparison, the CDC said there were 1,330 drug overdose deaths in the state in 2020. There were 1,485 fatal overdoses from March 2021 to March 2022, according to the state Office of Drug Control Policy.

Reported cases have dropped significantly since last week’s update, with 165 cases statewide compared to last week’s 707. More than a quarter of the reported cases are people older than 70.

“We still want our vulnerable population to remember today that about 90 percent of people who die of COVID-19 are over 65 years old and over 70 percent of people that died of COVID-19 are over 75 years old,” state Coronavirus Czar Clay Marsh said during Gov. Jim Justice’s regular media briefing Wednesday.

“We still want our most vulnerable population and our immunocompromised population to pay particular attention and care to make sure that you stay up to date with your vaccinations, that if you develop symptoms and you’re around somebody who is infected, that you get tested, so that you can call your care provider.”

The DHHR recently switched to weekly COVID-19 updates, keeping in line with the response at the federal level. The federal public health emergency is set to end May 11.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

Gov. Justice Tests Positive For COVID-19

Late Tuesday, upon the sudden onset of symptoms, Gov. Jim Justice immediately sought a COVID-19 test, and it came back positive.

Justice, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, is experiencing mild symptoms and is isolating at home. He is being treated by several physicians, including his family physician Dr. Gary Poling, and Dr. Clay Marsh, the state COVID-19 Czar. Everyone the governor has been in close contact with over the past few days is being notified.

Justice is in communication with his chief of staff and office staff to ensure that state government continues to operate smoothly.

Justice also tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2022.

Justice Encourages Boosters, Flu Shots As Temperatures Drop

Gov. Jim Justice reported nine more deaths during his COVID-19 briefing Wednesday afternoon.

This brings the total number of in-state deaths to 7,479. The deaths were exclusively among the elderly, with the youngest death being a 65-year-old from Greenbrier County.

Justice continued to urge West Virginians to get their omicron booster shot as the temperatures continue to decline.

“It’s starting to get colder, it’s absolutely going to be more and more and more folks inside,” Justice said. “The chances of this thing spreading even faster are surely more with people gathered together.”

Ret. Maj. Gen. James Hoyer also brought up staffing concerns across the state’s hospitals, with flu season also set to begin.

“This time of year also tends to be a time when we have more people in hospital for a variety of respiratory related issues,” Hoyer said. “So we want to continue to look closely at that. Part of the governor’s task force responsibility is to work with our hospital association and our healthcare system to make sure that we can maintain those capabilities.”

Coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh is optimistic that despite the drops in temperature, this coming season will look better than past pandemic winters.

“Looking at Europe and seeing what’s going on with the level of immunity that we have worldwide, it’s less likely we will see tremendous surges and COVID patients overwhelming hospitals, but hospitals are very full,” Marsh said.

There are 912 active cases in the state as of Wednesday, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources. That includes 310 newly identified cases since the previous update just the day before.

Twenty More COVID-19 Deaths Reported As BA.5 Continues Surge

Twenty more COVID-19 deaths were reported during Gov. Jim Justice’s briefing Thursday as the BA.5 variant continues to infect West Virginians at a high rate.

Updated on Friday, July 29, 2022 at 10:21 a.m.

Twenty more COVID-19 deaths were reported during Gov. Jim Justice’s briefing Thursday as the BA.5 variant continues to infect West Virginians at a high rate.

The variant accounts for 82 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the United States.

There are 3,351 active cases in the state, with 1,197 new cases being reported by the Department of Health and Human Resources since its last update. Justice also says there could be more positive cases going unreported because of home testing.

“I remind and remind and remind that absolutely, especially if you’re over the age of 50, and you were vaccinated, come on, we got to get your booster shot. That’s just all there is to it,” Justice said. “Every person we get across the finish line is a life that is possibly saved.”

The number is among the highest active case numbers in the state since February, with the surge expected to peak in the coming weeks. Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh says this amount of new cases is a direct result of the highly contagious BA.5 variant.

“We’re seeing that equate with more hospitalizations,” Marsh said. “And we know the most important thing people can do to protect themselves is be up to date with their vaccines.”

As of the briefing, 327 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized. Out of those patients, 51 are in the ICU and 13 are on ventilators.

Justice also announced a third probable case of monkeypox in the state – the second in Berkeley County. This brings the total number of probable cases in the state to three.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

***Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify the amount of new monkeypox cases announced Thursday.

Gov. Justice Discusses COVID-19, Gun Violence In First COVID Press Conference In Two Weeks

Gov. Jim Justice held his first COVID-19 press conference in 12 days Tuesday morning, after a tick-related illness led him to cancel last week’s press conference.

Amidst discussions of gun violence and the upcoming publication of the state’s new foster care dashboard, Justice and his advisors expressed wary optimism at the state’s improving COVID-19 effective reproductive value.

However, state COVID-19 czar Clay Marsh pointed to increases in hospitalizations to warn West Virginians that things are not over. Reduced testing appears to be a particular issue.

“For the current surge that is going on around the country and for the increased cases we’ve seen in West Virginia, we have not been able to track that very well,” Marsh said. “We are close to 100,000 average cases a day in the United States. Really smart authorities think that we are picking up probably as few as five to 10 percent of all positive cases that are circulating.”

Marsh noted the state has six times as many COVID-19 cases now than at the same point in 2021.

Gun Violence

The press conference often pulled away from COVID-19-related issues, and much of Justice’s time was spent discussing gun violence.

Justice invited Jeff Sandy, secretary of the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security to speak briefly about the West Virginia Safe Schools Helpline. The helpline is a non-emergency number (1-866-723-3982) designed to screen calls for information that may have a negative impact on students, staff or property at any school in West Virginia, including gun violence.

Justice commented broadly on the state of the nation’s culture, including pornography and violent video games, that he blamed in part for increased gun violence before discussing gun regulation.

“Do I really feel like that an 18 year old ought to be able to walk in and buy an assault weapon? I don’t,” Justice said. He went on to state that the purchasing age for such weapons should be 21, and that he did not approve of a blanket ban of assault weapons.

Later in the press conference, when asked if he would move to codify an age restriction for gun purchases in the state, Justice expressed skepticism that politicians would allow such a law to pass.

“Until we as people start thinking logically and reasonably as people, and we’re willing to do stuff, instead of looking at how’s this politically going to impact me, it will be a total waste of breath,” Justice said.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.