Active COVID-19 outbreaks in churches have infected at least 85 people in the last couple of weeks, according to an update from the governor Wednesday afternoon.
The state Department of Health and Human Resources is now reporting an eighth church outbreak in Mason County. The DHHR’s list of outbreaks in places of worship on Monday included Kanawha, Logan, Boone, Raleigh, Wood, Taylor and Grant counties.
The Mason County outbreak includes three local residents who have tested positive for the coronavirus and two Putnam County residents, according to the local health department.
Staff say all members of the church have entered a two week quarantine, and in-person services are on hold. The health department refused to identify the church and its location, but said congregants did comply with the governor’s executive order for face masks and social distancing.
An executive order signed July 6 from Gov. Jim Justice includes religious entities among other indoor places subject to his mask mandate, according to the governor’s communications office. All West Virginians older than eight years old who don’t risk suffocation must wear a face covering indoors where social distancing is not possible.
Yet, Justice said during a virtual press briefing Wednesday that he and local health departments don’t have the authority to enforce this order in churches, unlike restaurants and stores that rely on health permits from the county.
“I don’t have any powers … to be able to fine people or whatever from my standpoint, I don’t have any powers whatsoever to do such a thing,” Justice said.
Public health leaders urge West Virginians to wear face coverings to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, even while indoors and standing at least six feet apart from others.
“Even if you are physically distancing, these two things work well together,” Dr. Clay Marsh, an appointed public health expert in West Virginia, said of face masks and social distancing Wednesday.
Marsh showed viewers of the governor’s virtual press briefing on Wednesday a video from WVU, where he works, that demonstrates how face masks mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
State health leaders additionally have asked places of worship to hold online services wherever possible. For those who’ve chosen to hold in-person services, state health officer Dr. Ayne Amjad said Monday the DHHR is still offering support and guidance.
Last week, Gov. Jim Justice ordered all public schools in West Virginia open for the 2020-2021 school year beginning Sept. 8. Schools must provide 180 instructional days and must have a five-day school week.
Of course, this could all change depending on how the coronavirus pandemic evolves. But county school boards are starting to prepare for that date and discuss how a return to school in a pandemic would look.
Earlier this week in the Eastern Panhandle, both Jefferson and Berkeley County Schools met for special board meetings to begin outlining fall 2020.
The main message from both was what we know now will likely change before the Sept. 8 start date, and no matter when school begins, it will not be business as usual.
“It is anything but that. It will not look like the school that you left,” said Jefferson County Superintendent of Schools Bondy Shay Gibson speaking over Zoom to board members and the public.
“We will have reduced class sizes,” she said. “We will not be having lunches in the cafeteria. We will be holding class in the library. We will be holding class to a limited extent in the gymnasium. We will be utilizing spaces that currently are congregate spaces as classroom spaces in order to socially distance students.”
These are all situations that could occur if school returns to in-person learning, which the governor is hopeful will be achieved by all 55 counties.
Gibson said students age nine or older, and all faculty and staff, will be required to wear face masks throughout the school day. Frequent sanitization and hand washing will be a constant; random visitations to schools will not be allowed, and staff in Jefferson County schools will be provided with a variety of personal protective equipment.
“We will provide gloves, we will provide Tyvek suits, we will provide shoe booties, we will provide the equipment that ensure that our staff are safe, which means that students are safe,” Gibson explained.
Across the border in Berkeley County, much of the same message was sent to board members and the community, but not quite as many details as Jefferson. Berkeley County Superintendent of Schools Patrick Murphy noted in a live Zoom meeting that the county is preparing for the fall but they’re just starting to lay the groundwork.
“I know we want absolute decisions. I know we want answers. I wish I could give you all those answers,” Murphy said. “But I’m fearful that if I give you a specific answer today, tomorrow it will not carry any merit and the environment will have changed.”
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Berkeley County Superintendent of Schools Patrick Murphy presents a PowerPoint to county board members and the public detailing the district’s reopening plans for the fall.
Murphy said the goal of Monday’s meeting in Berkeley County was to begin a dialogue with the public about reopening plans. He said he will be providing updates regularly.
“We need to plan. We need to think,” Murphy said. “We need to look at all of the different possibilities and progressions.”
One area discussed during Berkeley County’s meeting was fall sports and how that will look different. Don Dellinger, deputy superintendent of Berkeley County Schools, outlined some of those anticipated changes.
“There are still strict guidelines with sanitizing the equipment, social distancing … so, those are all in place,” Dellinger said. “Screenings and the daily check-ins are all still in place.”
He explained that athletes will be kept to small groups and fall practices have been slated for Aug. 17.
Murphy, the superintendent, noted that everything from sports to class instruction will have to adapt – and how schools respond to needs could change at a moment’s notice as the pandemic changes.
“I think we have to recognize it’s going to look different, and while we have a traditional model of education in our mind … what education will look like is going to be different,” he said. “And we’re going to have to adapt to that as we are adapting to many things in our life.”
Both Berkeley and Jefferson County schools also made it clear in online meetings that virtual school will be an option for any family who feels concerned about sending their child to school in person. And both counties are looking at internet access options for families in areas where broadband might not be as reliable.
“We’ve been working with the West Virginia Department of Education on a deal with Sprint that we are hopeful will come to fruition,” Gibson said. “[This] would allow a full-service unlimited data plan, in-full for the entire school year for any family that is within their coverage area, provided we can purchase the appropriate hotspots for them. That is a technical problem that we are working through, but we are actively pursuing every possible means for getting WiFi access inside the home to families.”
Both counties also noted that virtual school in the fall will look different from what happened in the spring. Virtual school in fall 2020 will, according to Gibson, have regular class meetings, accountabilities in place, testing and tutoring.
It was also acknowledged by both counties that between now and Sept. 8, or even after school begins, school for fall 2020 could end up being entirely virtual depending on the pandemic.
Also, to help limit the spread of the virus, in-person class sizes will be small, and students will likely remain in a pod, or cohort, where teachers can more easily control who those students are interacting with.
The subject of how students will be social-distanced on school buses, however, did not come up in either meeting.
All 55 of West Virginia’s counties will have the flexibility to decide how fall 2020 will look within CDC guidelines and requirements set by the governor, according to the state Board of Education.
The debate over whether to wear face masks to combat the spread of the coronavirus steered much of the discussion during a virtual town hall in the Eastern Panhandle Wednesday night. The Jefferson County Commission hosted the event with local medical professionals.
The aim of the event, attended by more than 50 people, was to educate and answer questions from the region experiencing the highest number of positive coronavirus cases in West Virginia.
Callers asked questions on a wide variety of topics, such as contact tracing, antibody tests, immunity and vaccines, but one issue came up frequently – whether cloth face masks should be mandated or continue to be voluntary, and how they help against the virus.
Gov. Jim Justice has repeatedly urged West Virginians to wear a mask while out in public but has not made it a requirement as some states and U.S. cities have done. He said Thursday in a virtual press briefing that he may institute a measure next week as state cases continue to rise.
Panelists did not say whether masks should be mandated in West Virginia, but Eastern Panhandle health officer Dr. Terrence Reidy did point to evidence that shows wearing a simple cloth mask while out in public does help protect others by limiting the spread of COVID-19.
“If I cough, if I sneeze,” Reidy said, “it’s going to greatly decrease the chance of spreading, if I happen to have the virus.”
As cases of the virus spike in some states, one caller asked whether West Virginia might experience another shut down as it did in March when Justice issued his stay-at-home order.
Panelist Dr. David Baltierra, interim chair of Family Medicine in Berkeley County under WVU Medicine East, said masks are key if West Virginians don’t want to see another statewide shut down.
“The masks actually keep you going,” said Baltierra. “And so, it’s a way to keep not having to close everything down.”
A month ago, the Shepherdstown Town Council passed a resolution strongly encouraging businesses in town to require face masks of customers.
Last week, the Harpers Ferry Town Council followed Shepherdstown’s example and passed a similar resolution.
On Tuesday, the Shepherdstown Town Council passed another resolution calling on the governor to require masks in public places throughout the state.
Berkeley County leads the state in positive case numbers with more than 440 confirmed. Its neighbor, Jefferson County, has confirmed more than 220 cases of the virus.
To-date, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports that more than 3,000 cases of the virus have been identified in West Virginia, and at least 93 people have died.
A month after passing a resolution strongly encouraging Shepherdstown businesses to require face masks inside their establishments, the Shepherdstown Town Council is formally calling on Gov. Jim Justice to mandate face masks in public spaces across West Virginia.
The Shepherdstown Town Council on Tuesday passed the resolution requesting Justice make wearing masks a requirement.
Shepherdstown Mayor Jim Auxer said during the meeting, held via the video conferencing app Zoom, that masks help limit the spread of the coronavirus, according to health officials. And he pointed to the governor’s frequent call for citizens to wear masks when out in public.
“It is divisive but maybe if [Justice] hears from constituents, about how we feel about that, maybe it’ll help him make a decision,” Auxer said. “If he really feels it’s important, then we’re helping him do that.”
Of the council members present on the Zoom call, only one member, Mark Everhart, spoke against the resolution, saying requiring masks goes too far.
While Justice has urged West Virginians to wear masks in public, he has not made it mandatory, and insists if he did so, it would cause division and tread on people’s freedoms.
In late May, the Shepherdstown Town Council passed a resolution that “strongly encourages” businesses in town to require face masks of their customers. The resolution was also accompanied by a letter from the Shepherdstown Police Department saying businesses have the option to get police involved if someone refuses to wear a mask and enters a business anyway. The person could be subject to a trespassing charge.
Some states in the country have mandated wearing masks in public places, such as Maryland, California, and some cities in Arizona, but largely, it is only a recommendation in the United States.
The Eastern Panhandle has consistently seen high numbers of positive coronavirus cases. Berkeley County has held the highest number of cases in the state for several weeks.
In the Eastern Panhandle, one town has passed a resolution that “strongly encourages” mask wearing and gives businesses the option to get local police involved if customers refuse to wear one inside their establishments.
At many businesses in Shepherdstown, there are bright orange posters in windows that read “PROTECT: Masks Required Here,” including a popular shop called the German Street Coffee and Candlery.
“We were issued masks by the town, which I thought was awesome, so when people come without their masks, we can offer them one,” said German Street Coffee and Candlery employee Alexandra Casserley.
Casserley and her co-workers say they were glad to hear about the resolution passed by the Shepherdstown Town Council in late May that strongly encourages mask wearing. She said while they haven’t had any issues with customers refusing to wear a mask, she feels safer knowing they can require customers to wear them and that if it was necessary, the police could get involved.
“It just gives us a bit of backup if an individual is difficult,” she said. “I wouldn’t necessarily want to cause a huge amount of trouble, but I would like them to be escorted from the premises if they will not cooperate and are aggressively coming in to make a point.”
Shepherdstown Mayor Jim Auxer said the council can’t require anyone to wear a mask, unless the governor makes wearing one indoors mandatory. But he maintains that under state statute, what they’re doing is perfectly legal to protect Shepherdstown residents, visitors and to empower the town’s businesses.
Auxer also points to the region’s increase in coronavirus cases and the fact that Shepherdstown is a tourist town that’s close to the Washington, D.C., metro region.
Jefferson County has seen more than 200 positive cases of coronavirus. Its neighbor, Berkeley County, has held the highest number of positive coronavirus cases in the state for weeks with more than 400 positive cases.
These cases, according to officials, are mostly attributed to community spread and the region’s close proximity to Washington, D.C., Baltimore, MD and Virginia. Recently, several West Virginians have traveled to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, and Gov. Jim Justice has cautioned vacationers to practice social distancing, good hand hygiene and wear masks if they feel they must travel.
Both Jefferson and Berkeley Counties remain on high alert for the virus.
“Jefferson and Berkeley initially were considered hotspots,” Auxer said. “And the Jefferson County Health Department is adamant in their suggestion that masks are important.”
According to the town resolution, a business owner is “strongly encouraged” to require or at least encourage the wearing of masks within their establishments. As private entities, they have the right to set their own policies, so requiring a patron to wear a mask to enter is a choice a business can already make.
But along with that resolution, the Shepherdstown Police Department also provided a letter to Shepherdstown businesses that says police can get involved if someone refuses to wear a mask and enters a business anyway. The person could be subject to a trespassing charge if they insist on coming inside after being asked to wear a mask and still refuse to do so.
“It’s no different than no shirt, no shoes, no service; no shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service,” Auxer said.
Other establishments in Shepherdstown are also glad to have the resolution, though it’s not as easy to enforce everywhere, including places like a restaurant, where patrons must remove their mask to eat and drink.
Tabitha Dolan, general manager of the Blue Moon Café, said she encourages customers to wear masks up until their food arrives, and when asked to wear one, most people comply. She doesn’t anticipate needing to reach out to the police to enforce mask-wearing inside of her restaurant.
“I really don’t think it’s going to come to that here,” Dolan said. “Most of the customers are longtime customers, and we don’t really usually have any ruckus here. I mean, that’s the bottom line. So, I don’t think that we’ll have to worry about it. And I hope that we don’t.”
Dolan admits she doesn’t always wear a mask in public herself, because she has a lung disorder and said she has difficulty breathing with one on. But she requires her staff to wear a mask while working. They also have a sign in their window asking visitors to wear one.
“I have my opinions about it both ways, but I also want my staff to feel comfortable,” she said. “So, I am kind of glad that they did pass [the resolution]. But on the other side of that, you know, I have to think about people like me as well.”
In some communities in the United States, where masks have been mandated in public spaces, there has been some pushback. But according to Shepherdstown Mayor Auxer, that hasn’t been the case locally.
Community reaction on one Facebook post about Shepherdstown’s resolution has about 90 comments – mostly negative – saying the move will hurt the town’s businesses and local economy.
But responses on the Shepherdstown Visitors Center’s Facebook page were mostly supportive with many people showing support with “Like” and “Love” reaction emojis.
At the state level, Justice continues to urge West Virginians to wear masks when in public spaces, but has so far, decided against issuing a statewide requirement that people wear masks indoors, which other states have done.
“First of all, it’s almost impossible to enforce,” Justice https://youtu.be/CW5D0-7PD_8?t=3734″>said in a June 24 virtual press briefing. “And the second part of it is just this: it will divide us. They’ll be people that think now we’ve gone too far and we’re really treading on their freedoms … If we can do it on a voluntary basis where we’re all pulling the rope together, we’ll be a lot better off.”
Casserley at the German Street Coffee and Candlery said she thinks the state should consider passing a statewide mandate to require the wearing of masks in public.
“I know there’s this argument, ‘but my freedom, my freedom,’ but I think with freedom comes responsibility. And we are all responsible for other people’s health,” she said. “So, I think by wearing a mask, you are showing respect for others, not necessarily thinking just of yourself.”
West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to the Charleston, Morgantown, Huntington and Wheeling city clerk’s to see if some of the state’s larger cities had done anything like Shepherdstown, but at this time, they have not made similar moves.
Last week, however, the Harpers Ferry Town Council passed a resolution almost identical to Shepherdstown’s. Harpers Ferry’s resolution is also accompained by a letter from the Harpers Ferry Police Department telling businesses they have the option to call local police if patrons refuse to wear a mask and refuse to leave the establishment.
Across the country, medical professionals fighting the coronavirus pandemic are struggling to get their hands on protective gear – things as basic as goggles, gloves and masks – and without federal assistance, groups of West Virginians are handmaking face masks at their own expense.
In the past weeks President Trump said the federal government does have some equipment in stock, but due to the lack of cases in West Virginia, the state would not be receiving any.
Since then, the number of West Virginians testing positive for the coronavirus has grown each day, but local hospitals say they still fear they will not receive federal assistance.
As a result, local hospitals have started calling on West Virginians to handmake and donate masks.
Cotton Masks
One person who jumped into action was Stacy Grubb, a mom of four who lives in Raleigh County. During the first week of social distancing she put a call out on her Facebook offering to hand make masks. Within three days she had almost 200 likes, nearly 100 comments and made more than 100 masks, including 24 for the McDowell County Health Department.
“I’m thinking this can’t be real, you know?” Grubb said. “Like, how is it that this can possibly be real, that hospitals are asking people to sew masks?”
Credit Stacy Grubb
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One of the many masks Stacy Grubb is making. She made over 100 masks in just two days.
Grubb is following a pattern recommended by healthcare workers online, using two materials — 100 percent cotton and one-eighth to one-quarter inch elastic. Each mask takes her about 20 minutes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it cannot classify cotton masks as “personal protective equipment” and medical professionals should only use them as a last resort. And Grubb said that makes her nervous.
“And so all of these doubts start clouding in my mind like, “What if I’m doing more harm than good?”” Grubb said.
Where Are All The Masks?
Medical professionals are facing the reality that in order to treat patients with the coronavirus, they might have to wear homemade masks that are not medical grade — leaving them exposed to the virus themselves.
Sydnee McElroy, a family physician and assistant professor in Huntington, said in the past she treated patients in developing countries, and only there she expected a lack of medical supplies.
“I really never dreamed – I trained here, I grew up, I lived most of my life in Huntington – I never thought I would be in that situation here,” McElroy said.
But the coronavirus is causing a nationwide shortage of supplies. Initially it was caused by the general public mass buying and hoarding face masks. But now, according to the Institute for Supply Management, global companies that U.S. hospitals rely on for masks are overwhelmed. The institute’s survey reported that in late February and early March, 75 percent of those companies’ supply chains were disrupted, and almost half did not have a plan to deal with it.
And although there is a federal stockpile of medical supplies, as well as a federal Defense Production Act that could force American industry to mass produce supplies, President Trump has been hesitant to tap those resources.
And McElroy said that concerns her.
“If you’re relying on the state or the federal government to provide whatever it is we need in that crisis,” she said, “you have to make sure that they are paying attention to you and they hear you, and I think unfortunately, that isn’t always true for rural areas of the country in general. But specifically, I feel that way for West Virginia a lot.”
With no alternatives, medical facilities in West Virginia are calling out for homemade masks, and people across the state are responding, all on their own expense.
In Morgantown a local suit and tailor store – Daniels of Morgantown – donated over 400 cotton masks to Cardinal Pediatrics, WVU Medicine and Mon General. There are groups in Shepherdstown, Pocahontas County and Elkins, just to name a few, all making masks and raising awareness through Facebook groups.
Furnace Filter Masks
Perhaps the largest movement has come from the West Virginia Mask Army, a Facebook page created March 20, with over 1,500 followers and receiving national attention. Although these masks cannot replace a medical grade version, they are a step up from the 100 percent cotton variety, said Suzanne Strait, a professor of biological sciences at Marshall University in Huntington and the founder of the mask army coalition.
“We needed something that actually had some filtration capability better than cotton. And we came up with the concept of using good high-end furnace filters that actually are known to at least filter some viruses and particles,” Strait said.
The masks are made from a furnace filter, elastic and a pipe cleaner or twist tie, which helps shape the mask over one’s nose. Medical centers in Washington state are using a similar model.
Credit West Virginia Mask Army
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Patricia Rogers and Rose Ayoob hold up the high quality filters they are using to make masks. They are part of the West Virginia Mask Army.
Over two days, Strait said she and her team worked closely with the Charleston Area Medical Center, who approved the design.
“We would much rather have these than the cotton ones. There is some question about, you know, you don’t really normally on a day-to-day life want to be cutting up and wearing a furnace mask – because they’re not designed for that. And with the edges where you cut it, little particles can come out,” she said.
“But the difference between that risk, you know, and the risk of a virus is kind of a very, well, we’re living in different times,” Strait said. “We have to be creative.”
Most medical centers requesting handmade masks are doing so as a preemptive measure, according to Kelly Anderson, a registered nurse and CAMC’s director of volunteer services, adding that CAMC does have enough medical grade masks, for now.
“As a nurse, I’ve never dreamed that we would even be considering using a fabric mask. However, you know, with the pandemic, we just, we just don’t know. And so anything will be more helpful than nothing,” Anderson said.
Effectively Using Homemade Masks Is Tricky
To extend the life of the medical grade masks Anderson said some staff are wearing the homemade masks over the top, which can then be cleaned.
But cleaning is an issue too. One website said to hand wash in warm water with soap and no bleach, while another recommended hot or cool water with a small amount of detergent. Stacy Grubb – the mother making masks in Raleigh County – said she read to wash on a hot sanitizing cycle, a hot rinse, a hot dry and then repeat the three steps again.
Sydnee McElroy, the physician in Huntington, said the effective way to wash the masks is unclear.
“And one of the other downfalls is if you don’t wash them appropriately and then let them dry, that you can actually store particles pathogens in the material,” McElroy said.
But she added that cotton masks are certainly better than just bandanas, which is what the CDC is recommending medical professionals use as a backup.
So not knowing yet whether there will be a need, West Virginians keep sewing masks. And Stacy Grubb said that is something that is uniquely Appalachian — even if there is no outside help, people out here just have a way of making do.
