Hospitalization Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Justice Shares COVID-19 Update And Intentions To Ban Chinese Apps

Gov. Jim Justice reacted quickly to a letter requesting the ban of two social media apps from government devices.

During a COVID-19 press conference Tuesday morning, Justice announced he plans to submit a bill during the upcoming legislative session to ban all apps owned by the Chinese government from the state government.

“It’s important to keep in mind that TikTok is hardly the only threat that’s out there and millions and millions of cyber events are happening all the time and targeting all kinds of different states and everything,” Justice said.

Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, sent a letter to Justice Monday requesting a ban on downloading the Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat apps to all state-issued cell phones, laptops and other devices.

Justice said his office has already banned the apps, but other state offices have not taken the same action.

State Chief Information Officer Josh Spence praised the move to ensure the state’s tech security in an ever-changing threat landscape.

“Taking it to the next step is the right move to ensure that as a state we move together and move forward to address this threat,” he said.

COVID-19 Update

Justice and state Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh also discussed the impact of rising cases across the state.

As temperatures continue to drop, the state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have continued to rise. There were 225 confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations across the state Tuesday, the highest number since September.

“I also want to take just a second to wish everybody happy holidays and please be careful as we’re seeing not only COVID circulate and increased hospitalizations, but also influenza and RSV is still an issue as well,” Marsh said.

W.Va.'s COVID-19 Hospitalization Rate Declining

While deaths associated with COVID-19 continue to be reported in West Virginia, the state’s hospitalization rate is declining.

State health leaders are urging residents to get the newest COVID-19 booster shot and a flu shot ahead of winter. New research indicates an expected bump in COVID-19 cases this fall during cooler weather.

While deaths associated with COVID-19 continue to be reported in West Virginia, the state’s hospitalization rate is declining.

”We’re down to 190 cases that are hospitalized in West Virginia – 29 in the ICU and 13 on ventilators,” Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday in a virtual press conference. “And, you can see more of our state is in green and that’s good.”

One month ago, the state health department reported 300 hospitalizations, bringing the state much closer to the predetermined statewide capacity of 500 coronavirus hospitalizations.

Justice also reported 7,445 West Virginia residents have now died from the virus.

There are 968 active COVID-19 cases in the state.

COVID-19 Hospitalizations Climb Closer To State’s Limit

COVID-19 cases in the state have remained around 3,000 active cases for weeks, but hospitalizations continue to climb.

West Virginia reached 399 COVID-19 hospitalizations Tuesday, bringing the state that much closer to the predetermined statewide capacity of 500 coronavirus hospitalizations.

“We have moved our number back to 500 to do planning exercises, and that, at this point, is scheduled for in the near future,” State Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh said.

Marsh pointed out that the hospitals’ issue is not just with COVID cases, but with broader stressors on the medical system, like staffing shortages.

“Hospitals are currently not having capacity limitations just because of COVID,” Marsh said. “Many hospitals have big backlogs of surgeries and medical care that people put off during the COVID pandemic surges that we had seen previously. So the hospitals are very full, both with some more patients with COVID, but also with people without. So we continue to work with them closely.”

Gov. Jim Justice and Marsh continue to urge that the best protection against serious infection and long COVID is vaccination.

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.

West Virginia Hits Record Number Of Coronavirus Hospitalizations

West Virginia has hit a grim milestone – a record number of hospitalizations for the COVID-19 virus.

Gov. Jim Justice announced Monday there are 215 West Virginians hospitalized with the coronavirus. Of that figure, 71 of those patients are in an intensive care unit, and 23 are on ventilators, according to data from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

The governor once again implored West Virginians to do everything they can to limit the spread of the virus – wear masks, social distance and frequently wash hands.

“As this thing races across our country again, and as we race to try to get to that vaccine, we gotta do our part in West Virginia,” Justice said. “I know it’s tough. I know the wearing of the mask is a nuisance and everything, but for crying out loud, compared to people dying, how much of a nuisance is it in anyway?”

The state saw 317 new cases of the virus in the past 24 hours. Overall, there are 5,031 active cases statewide.

As of Monday morning, at least 424 West Virginians have died from the virus since DHHR began tracking COVID-related deaths in the state.

Nationally, the United States has seen record high numbers in cases recently.

On Friday, the U.S. hit a record of confirmed daily coronavirus cases with more than 83,000 new cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. also recorded 943 deaths due to COVID-19 on Friday. More than 225,000 people have died from the virus nationwide.

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.”