Coronavirus Czar Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Coronavirus Czar Hopeful For New COVID-19 Treatment On Horizon

The state’s coronavirus czar offered support Friday for the announcement by the pharmaceutical company Merck, that progress has been made with a new treatment for COVID-19 called molnupiravir.

Marsh said at Gov. Jim Justice’s coronavirus news conference that the treatment can reduce hospitalizations by 50 percent and eliminate deaths for people with mild to moderate disease.

“This is another exciting tool that we very well may get in our tool belt,” Marsh said. “And this might be able to augment the use of the monoclonal antibodies and people at risk.”

There is no official delivery date for this new treatment.

James Hoyer, head of the Joint Interagency Coronavirus Task Force, said shipments of those monoclonal antibodies have been delayed with seven states with low vaccination rates receiving the lion’s share.

Last week, the state expected 3,000 doses but only received 1,368. This week, the state expected to receive 1,584 doses, but as of Friday had only received 156.

The antibody treatment is about 80 percent effective, while the new oral medication is thought to be about 50 percent effective. It is more convenient for rural areas though. It is in pill form and does not require refrigeration. The dosage is two pills a day for five days, according to Marsh.

“Even though it’s a little bit less effective than the antibody treatment, it is still really good,” Marsh said. “It reduced the risk of death to zero in the 29 days, in which 775 people who were part of the clinical trial participated.”

Eighty people have died from COVID-19 since Justice’s last briefing on Wednesday. A total of 3,722 West Virginians have died since the start of the pandemic. Justice became visibly emotional when he read the age of a 30-year-old male from Wetzel County. He noted the man was younger than both of his own children.

Number Of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in W.Va. Continues To Slowly Climb

The number of people hospitalized, in ICU, and on ventilators in West Virginia with COVID-19 has increased slightly since Monday.

Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday in his latest virtual press briefing that 226 people are hospitalized with the coronavirus in West Virginia. That’s eleven more since Monday.

The number of West Virginians with the virus in an intensive care unit has also gone up by twelve, from 71 to 83. And there are four more people on ventilators, from 23 to 27.

The number of active coronavirus cases in the state has dropped since Monday — from 5,031 to 4,557 active cases.

The governor and state officials continue to call on West Virginians to practice CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Those guidelines include washing hands for at least 20 seconds, standing six feet or more away from others, and wearing a mask that covers your nose and mouth.

Coronavirus Czar Clay Marsh said the virus spread is getting worse nationally, and cautioned that now is the time for West Virginians to “take maximum effort” to getting tested, wearing masks and social distancing to prevent further surge in West Virginia.

“As we talked about at the very, very beginning of this pandemic, we need to work together to make sure that we continue to flatten the curve,” Marsh said. “West Virginia, as the governor has asked once again, we’re really pleading with you to really focus on what we need to do, using each point of our individual power and capability to try to slow the spread of COVID-19.”

Marsh said more young people in West Virginia were testing positive for the virus at the start of the summer, but now, he said the trend has changed, and more people aged 50 to 70 are testing positive in the state.

As of Wednesday, there have been 436 deaths from COVID-19 in West Virginia since the state began tracking deaths from the pandemic.

There were 358 new coronavirus cases in West Virginia in the past 24 hours.

Officials Urge West Virginians To Reconsider Beach Plans Following Outbreak Linked To Myrtle

Officials are urging vacation-goers to rethink upcoming travel and get tested for the coronavirus if they have visited Myrtle Beach. In today’s virtual press briefing, officials said more new coronavirus cases have been linked to recent trips there.

Commissioner for public health Dr. Kathy Slemp called the Myrtle Beach cases a “significant issue.” She said 25-30 cases have been identified in 5 counties, and that people returning to West Virginia from “high risk” areas, meaning places with lots of cases, should get tested and take precautions such as self-quarantining until results come back.

Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh said people should take particular caution with attending church services. A second church in Greenbrier County has experienced a small cluster of outbreaks. That outbreak, officials said, was linked to exposure to people from the first church.

Despite the increase in cases, Governor Justice said West Virginia will continue with its reopening plan and announced that in-person graduation ceremonies can continue as scheduled. He also issued a proclamation recognizing Juneteenth, in honor of June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free.

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

Coronavirus Czar Says Pandemic Is A Stress Test For W.Va. Health Care

It’s been about 10 weeks since the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country, including West Virginia. While state officials are now reopening businesses, the pandemic is far from over. Seventy-eight West Virginians have died due to COVID-19. Unemployment claims have reached 250,000.

But the pandemic has exacted another toll — it’s fractured many of our healthcare institutions. When the state was in quarantine mode, hospitals delayed and canceled many medical procedures. People shied away from elective surgeries that are precisely the kind of procedures that make money for hospitals. As a result, revenues are down, and some health care systems have laid off staff to keep costs down.

Recently, Gov. Jim Justice lifted those restrictions to allow elective medical procedures. As medical systems come back online, Trey speaks with Dr. Clay Marsh, the state’s COVID-19 czar, who sees the pandemic as an opportunity to fix the parts of the state’s healthcare system that are failing some West Virginians.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

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