Tag: Coroanvirus Pandemic

W.Va. Hits New High Of Virus Cases, Hospitalizations; Governor Talks State Vaccine Plan

Updated on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020 at 6:30 p.m.

New confirmed coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in West Virginia have hit new highs over the past week as outbreaks are growing in some of the most rural pockets of the state.

There were nearly 240 cases reported statewide on average over the past seven days Thursday, the highest ever in the state, and there are at least 4,839 active cases of the virus as of Saturday evening.

There are at least 188 people currently hospitalized, according to Gov. Jim Justice. At least 31 people are on ventilators.

“We continue to run to the fire,” Justice said in a virtual press briefing Friday. “We continue, absolutely in every way, to try to do all the testing we can possibly do to stop this thing.”

After a dip, the state’s positive testing rate has been rising for over a week, up to 3.64 percent over seven days, according to the Associated Press. The state recorded about three deaths a day on average over the past seven days, down from the high of over six in late September. There have been 399 virus-linked deaths as of Saturday evening.

Five counties, Barbour, Doddridge, Mingo, Randolph and Upshur, with populations under 30,000 people, have more than 25 cases per 100,000 residents, the most severe category of spread under the state’s metrics.

The smallest of the five, Doddridge County with about 8,500 residents, on Wednesday became the only county in the red category on the state’s color-coded map. Doddridge was the last county in the state to confirm a positive case back in July. The county remains in red as of Saturday.

The red category brings the most restrictions under the state’s map of five colors. Public schools are prohibited from conducting in-person classes while sports events and other extracurricular activities are postponed. Schools in Doddridge County were closed starting Oct. 6 due to the rise in cases.

Earlier this week, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources confirmed that more than 50 patients and employees at Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital in Huntington tested positive for the virus. On Thursday, the Cabell County Health Department pushed out a voluntary stay-at-home order for residents there.

However, DHHR’s county alert system map shows Cabell as green, meaning minimal community spread. In Friday’s virtual press briefing, DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch didn’t clarify why the county is labeled green when the county health department issued a stay-at-home advisory. But he explained the Cabell County Health Department made the decision out of caution.

“There’s more to the dashboard than just the map,” Crouch said. “One of the reasons we include the data beside the map is so that you can look at incident rates separately from positivity rates. And if you look at Cabell, their infection rate a week ago was 16.16 [percent]. It’s now 20. So, I think what [Dr. Michael Kilkenny, physician director], and the folks at Cabell are seeing, and are reacting to, is an increase in the infection rate there, which is part of the dashboard.”

The governor also mentioned Friday the state submitted its COVID-19 vaccine plan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for review and approval. He said more details of the plan would be released soon.

“This has been an incredible collaborative effort by our DHHR, our National Guard, our medical experts, the Office of Minority Affairs,” Justice said. “Countless others. [They] have done really, really good work.”

Justice said once a vaccine is ready, the state’s medical experts would review the data on its safety.

State Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad said health care workers would be the first West Virginians to receive the vaccine when it becomes available, followed by at risk populations such as residents in nursing homes.

“We’re hoping to lead the country with our document to see how the vaccine will be prepared,” Amjad said.

Justice said he thinks a vaccine could be available by the end of the year, but felt confident one would be available by February.

Dr. Clay Marsh echoed the governor, and said he thinks by spring 2021, a vaccine could be widely distributed to the general public.

“Depending on when the first doses come out, hopefully in the first quarter of 2021 or so, then you’ll see probably by the next quarter, you’ll see more people getting vaccinated,” Marsh said. “And then eventually things will be completely distributed throughout, as you say, the commercial sector as well.”

Justice urged West Virginians to continue to be on guard, get tested, social distance and wear a mask.

“This a bumpy ride,” Justice said Friday. “Just know there’s still some stormy water in front of us, and for those that are going through really bad water right now, you’re not alone. We’re with you.”

Marshall University Virologist Talks COVID-19 And Flu

Terry Fenger is a virologist at the Marshall University School of Medicine. For more than 40 years, he has been teaching medical students about viruses they may encounter in their practice — from influenza to the coronavirus.

He spoke with reporter Eric Douglas about the current pandemic and how it may interact with the coming flu season.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Douglas: Tell me about the infectious nature of the coronavirus.

Dr. Terry Fenger, a virologist at the Marshall University School of Medicine.

Fenger: Well, there’s a spectrum of infectivity out there with all these viruses that we come in contact with as humans. And within that spectrum certain viruses are easily transmittable and are highly infectious. I would put SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus, in the realm of highly infectious.

Some viruses take tens of thousands of virus particles to initiate an infection in a susceptible human host. With the coronavirus it takes potentially 1,000 virus particles.

Douglas: We’re obviously getting into the standard flu season right now. How do you see the flu virus and the coronavirus mixing together?

Fenger: The fact that influenza is about to come upon us, we have to be concerned that people are vaccinated against influenza to eliminate one of these possible respiratory viruses. I’m a proponent of vaccination. I will say it right up front. I know my family will be vaccinated against influenza virus.

Douglas: Everybody’s masking, everybody’s staying apart. Theoretically that will actually help with the issues of the flu season as well as the coronavirus.

Fenger: And that’s a good point because from reports coming out of the Southern Hemisphere, this is their winter. This is their flu season. And it appears that because individuals have been wearing masks and social distancing, and possibly they’re increasingly vaccinating against the flu, the frequency of influenza has decreased compared to previous years.

Douglas: Do you feel masks make a difference?

Fenger: Personally I do and it really makes a difference if two people come in contact with each other and both of them have masks on.

Douglas: Do you think we’ll find an effective vaccine for this?

Fenger: I have all the trust in the world that the various pharmaceutical companies will come up with an effective vaccine. Now that’s not to say that one vaccine will protect you for the rest of your life. There may be something that comes along like influenza that I mean yearly or every other year you have to have a slightly different type of coronavirus vaccine.

Douglas: Have we seen that kind of mutation in the coronavirus?

Fenger: Well, coronavirus is an RNA virus. That means that rather than having DNA as its central genetic molecule, it has RNA. And RNA viruses, in general, have a tendency to mutate. I would anticipate that coronavirus will sustain mutations over time and variance will develop.

Douglas: What are people in my business getting wrong?

Fenger: Oh, I don’t know about the business of reporting. But the general population, I think, needs to put trust in science. From what I read in the general news, a lot of people distrust science, that there’s some hidden agenda. But for me personally, and I can’t speak for anybody but myself, I’m putting trust in the ability to develop vaccines, and to develop an understanding why this particular virus is so infectious and what we can do to stop it with the development of drugs along with the other antiviral drugs that can be used.

Douglas: Can we expect more of this? Do you see more viruses coming out of nowhere?

Fenger: Well, there are experts out there who discuss emerging diseases. There’s a lot of factors and what we might consider a new disease. One is global travel. A person can be in one part of the world today and two days later on the other side of the earth, so that’s one consideration.

With the warming of the climate, we’re now seeing what we call insect vectors that used to be in the subtropical or tropical areas that are now found north. What one might anticipate is that the virus is also going to be present in other places. I tell my medical students, “When you’re out there practicing, you may see some virus infections that your predecessors rarely saw.”

Douglas: How does life need to change to avoid problems like this in the future?

Fenger: I wish I had a crystal ball on that one. But I just think the fact that we now are aware that a pandemic can come along. A couple years ago, it was a point of academic discussion that, well, someday, we may have a pandemic. We were thinking primarily of influenza virus from new strain influenza. But now, this pandemic has put this whole concept of infectious diseases in the forefront, that everybody in the United States, or world, is now aware of how infectious these viruses and bacteria can be so I think we need to develop an infrastructure that will address this.

Douglas: So, to a degree this has been a wake-up call, it’s not theoretical anymore. This is real and we need to be prepared for it.

Fenger: I think you are correct.

Fenger gives second-year medical students at the Marshall University School of Medicine 27 hours of lectures on viruses each year.

This conversation is brought to you by Appalachia Health News, a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, made possible by Marshall Health and Charleston Area Medical Center.

White House Task Force Doctor Stops In Lexington To Discuss College Coronavirus Cases

White House-appointed Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx visited the Lexington campus of the University of Kentucky on Monday as concerns grow over an escalating number of positive cases on campuses around the region.

Birx met with students, faculty and administrators on the UK campus, which has more than 400 active COVID-19 cases, 86 of those confirmed since late last week.

She says hearing from multiple colleges to learn about their coronavirus plans will help determine what measures keep students safe. 

“We’re right now consolidating all of that information so that we can get that out to universities across the United States,” Birx said. “So they understand what it takes to open and stay open successfully, and what it takes to protect both the students and the communities where these universities are.”

Despite the increase in cases, Birx says universities should be able to continue holding in-person classes.

“The majority of infections that you’re seeing on college campuses are not happening on campus in the classroom,” she said. “Because we’ve now seen throughout the summer that these infections are brought into institutions, due to what happens off-campus in communities.”

Birx says regardless of the strength of a university’s coronavirus plans students must follow protocols on and off campus.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear reported in a Monday briefing that 36 Kentucky colleges and universities have reported more than 2,000 active cases. An uptick of infections recently resulted in West Virginia University suspending in-person classes.

Reporters also asked about President Donald Trump’s recorded comments, recently released by reporter and author Bob Woodward, in which Trump talked about intentionally downplaying the severity of the virus.

Birx said she has “not downplayed the virus,” and that she has made her concerns plain in communication with the president.

“I have been very clear in my discussions with … the president of the level of severity of this virus, and I am not going to second-guess what the President has done or not done,” she said.

Dozens Of Inmates Test Positive For Virus At W.Va. Prison

Dozens of inmates at a West Virginia prison have tested positive for the new coronavirus, health officials said.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Resources’ website, 138 inmates at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex were confirmed as having the virus while 187 tests at the prison are pending.

A second round of tests was held at the maximum-security prison in Fayette County last week.

Earlier in August several inmates and staff in a prison housing unit tested positive for the virus, Gov. Jim Justice had said.

The virus usually results in only mild to moderate symptoms, but is particularly dangerous for the elderly and people with other health problems.

W.Va. Governor's Companies Get Millions In Virus Loans

Billionaire West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family companies received at least $6.3 million from a federal rescue package meant to keep small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released by the Treasury Department on Monday.

Justice, a Republican, is considered to be West Virginia’s richest man through ownership of dozens of coal and agricultural businesses, many of which have been sued for unpaid debts. At least six Justice family businesses received the Paycheck Protection Program loans, including The Greenbrier Sporting Club, an exclusive members-only club attached to a lavish resort Justice owns called The Greenbrier.

The aid package is the centerpiece of the federal government’s plan to rescue an economy devastated by shutdowns and uncertainty. The data released by the Treasury Department presents the fullest accounting of the program thus far, though payments to Justice companies could be higher than $6.3 million because the federal government disclosed the dollar figures in ranges, not specific amounts.

Justice acknowledged last week that his private companies received money from the program but said he did not know specific dollar amounts. A representative for the governor’s family companies did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

The governor said he wanted to place his assets in a blind trust shortly after he was elected but has not done so. He maintains that his children are in control of the family business empire. Still, Justice has faced criticism throughout his time as governor from those who argue he is too focused on his private companies to perform his government duties. The governor has repeatedly pushed back on such claims.

Lat year, another one of Justice’s family businesses, Justice Farms of North Carolina, received $125,000 in soybean and corn subsidies, the maximum allowed from a separate federal program meant to help American farmers through the U.S. trade war with China. The payments, made public through records provided to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, highlighted the sometimes fraught relationship between the billionaire’s businesses and his role as chief executive.

Under the Paycheck Protection Program, the government is backing $659 billion in low-interest loans written by banks. Taxpayer money will pay off the loans if borrowers use them on payroll, rent and similar expenses. Companies typically must have fewer than 500 workers to qualify.

Demand was so great that a first infusion of $349 billion ran out in just two weeks. Many Main Street businesses could not navigate the application process rapidly enough to get one of those first loans before funding dried up. Meanwhile, several hundred companies traded on stock exchanges — hardly the image of a small business — received loans maxing out at $10 million each, causing a public backlash and leading dozens to return the money.

Congress added $310 billion to the program, but confusing, shifting and sometimes restrictive rules cooled interest. About $140 billion was unclaimed as the application deadline closed June 30. With money still available, Congress voted to extend the program just as it was expiring, setting a new date of Aug. 8.

The public may never know the identity of more than 80 percent of the nearly 5 million beneficiaries to date because the administration has refused to release details on loans under $150,000 — the vast majority of borrowers. That secrecy spurred an open-records lawsuit by a group of news organizations, including The Associated Press.

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