James Hoyer Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

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.

BA.5 Surge Still Weeks Away From Peak

Coronavirus cases continue their climb in West Virginia, but the peak is yet to come.

Gov. Jim Justice began Friday’s COVID-19 briefing by highlighting what he called “a big jump” in the number of active cases in the state.

“The biggest thing you need to dial into is we’ve jumped to 3358 active cases,” Justice said. “And we have 325 folks that are hospitalized with COVID in West Virginia now. I couldn’t tell you enough about getting your booster shot.”

That number, 3,358, is the highest active COVID-19 case numbers have been in West Virginia for five months, since late February.

Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh cautioned that, driven by the BA.5 variant, the peak of this surge is likely still weeks away.

“We know that the BA.5 variant has not yet risen to its full potential in the U.S., and we know that West Virginia is a few weeks, always, behind the rest of the U.S.,” Marsh said. “We can anticipate that BA.5 will come and have its full strength felt in West Virginia in the next several weeks.”

Marsh said the forms of COVID-19 circulating now are the most infectious yet, and called this time before the BA.5 peak the perfect time to get up to date on vaccines.

“This is really the right time to make sure that you go to the vaccine calculator, and if you’re due for another shot, if you’re due for a booster or a second booster or even if you’re due to get your primary series, this is really the best time to do it,” Marsh said. “And we hope people will do that because we don’t want the governor to read more names at the beginning of the next press conference.”

Justice and Marsh pointed to Pres. Biden’s seemingly mild case of COVID-19 as further evidence of the importance of vaccination to prevent severe illness.

Ret. Maj. Gen. James Hoyer said the state will order doses of Novavax on Monday. Approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday, Novavax uses more traditional protein-subunit vaccine technology. There is hope that vaccine hesitant populations will be more likely to use it over existing mRNA and viral vector vaccines.

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

State Leaders Renew Calls For Vaccination Amid BA.5 Surge

As cases of the highly infectious BA.5 COVID-19 variant continue to rise, state leaders are renewing calls for West Virginians to get vaccinated and boosted.

During Tuesday’s coronavirus briefing, Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh said the variant’s superpower is its ability to reinfect individuals that have recovered from other COVID-19 strains.

“The amount of our population who chooses to get their first booster dose and second booster dose, to stay up-to-date is so important in reducing the spread of the BA.5 variant in West Virginia and also protecting our citizens from the most severe consequences and death,” Marsh said.

He said the White House is considering removing restrictions for a fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot, which are currently only offered to people age 50 and older.

Marsh was recently nominated to serve on the National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality. In a letter of support, the state’s congressional delegation cited his two years of work combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Jim Justice highlighted the reality that COVID-19 is here to stay, and reaffirmed the need for vaccines in that reality.

“It’s easy to see, if you’re logical and you’re reasonable, and everything, and you just look at this. It’s easy to say that this is not going away,” Justice said. “But it’s not now for us to be running in total fear of. It’s nothing we should be very respectful of. And it’s something that all of us know that we can control our destiny in many, many ways or dadgum near it with the vaccines.”

Retired Maj. Gen. Jim Hoyer spoke about yet another COVID-19 vaccine, NovaVax.

The latest of the COVID-19 vaccines, NovaVax received recommendation for use in adults from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel earlier Tuesday, and will be available once CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gives final approval. Hoyer said its availability will be reflected on the state’s vaccine calculator.

In the meantime, Hoyer reminded West Virginians there are plenty of other vaccines available immediately.

“We have an ample supply of vaccines available,” Hoyer said. “Dr. Amjad and I were just texting back and forth a minute ago. We have over 175 providers, not including pharmacies, who are still signed up to provide vaccines. So plenty of locations are available.”

Hoyer Receives ‘Spirit Of The Valley’ Award

The YMCA of the Kanawha Valley presented the Spirit of the Valley award to retired Maj. Gen. James Hoyer at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center Wednesday.

When Hoyer found out that he was going to receive the award, he said he was honored, but also a little uncomfortable. But then he realized he was receiving the award for a lot of other people.

“I’m a representative for all the great things that other people do,” Hoyer said. “It’s not about me, but what I can be in the way of a spokesman or representative for the people that do great things in this valley.”

While Hoyer was the Adjutant General in charge of the West Virginia National Guard from 2011 to 2021, he was involved in the recovery from the derecho event, the water crisis, the floods of 2016 and the coronavirus task force.

The Spirit of the Valley award goes to a West Virginian who exemplifies community service. The luncheon program is also a major fundraising event for the YMCA of the Kanawha Valley.

Now that he’s retired, Hoyer serves as the vice president for Economic Innovation for West Virginia University and he leads the Joint Interagency Coronavirus Task Force.

W.Va. Likely Facing Fifth Coronavirus Surge This Winter

As COVID-19 continues to spread in West Virginia, it will likely put increased pressure on hospitals.

Retired Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, head of the Joint Interagency Task Force, reported during Gov. Jim Justice’s regular coronavirus briefing that the reproduction number of COVID-19 is now 1.04.

That means someone with the virus is spreading it to more than one other person. And hospitals haven’t yet recovered from the delta surge.

“At the end of the first surge, we had almost a complete emptying of our hospital system of COVID patients,” Hoyer said. “That is not the case during this surge. We still have over 500 patients in the hospital and a much greater percentage of those individuals in the ICU.”

Gov. Justice began the briefing by reading off the ages and home counties of 92 West Virginians who have died from the coronavirus since his last briefing. He warned that the state is likely facing a fifth surge.

The total number of deaths in West Virginia from COVID 19 has climbed to 4817.

Coronavirus Cases In W.Va. Rise, Hoyer Retires From National Guard And Takes On New Role At WVU

As we enter into Thanksgiving week, West Virginia’s coronavirus numbers continue to climb. Gov. Jim Justice in his latest virtual press briefing called on West Virginians to consider making changes to their Thanksgiving celebrations this year.

“It would be much, much better if you were with the family members that you’re with all the time,” Justice said. “We absolutely depend on you to be making good decisions that will just not make this situation worse and worse for your family and worse for all those you love the most.”

State health officials also urged residents not to travel.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports since the start of the pandemic, more than 41,000 West Virginians have contracted the virus. Since Friday, more than 2,600 new cases have been identified, and there are more than 13,600 cases considered active.

More than 460 people are hospitalized, 136 people are in intensive care, and 60 people are on ventilators. More than 660 West Virginians have died.

“In West Virginia, we’re approaching 1,000 COVID cases per day,” said Coronavirus Czar Clay Marsh during the governor’s briefing. “What that tells us is that despite all the testing, and despite all the contact tracing, that in some areas, COVID is spreading fast enough that perhaps you know, some focused and precise strategies will need to be done.”

Marsh said these strategies, regarding any new mandates or restrictions, would need to come from the governor. While the governor has said he will not shut the state down, he has also said “anything is on the table” to try and mitigate the spread of the disease, depending on how bad it gets.

Justice, in his Monday press briefing, also recognized Maj. General James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard, who after 40 years is retiring.

Hoyer is well known for his military service and his leadership when responding to the 2016 flood that devastated parts of West Virginia and killed 23 people.

Hoyer served as adjutant general for the past 10 years, and will continue to serve the state in a new role with West Virginia University.

“I felt it would be most appropriate to come to [Justice] and say, I think it’s time for me to go ahead and step out of uniform,” Hoyer said. “Let somebody else focus on taking care of the soldiers and airmen of the guard day-to-day, so I can focus with you on pandemic response and vaccine distribution and those economic development opportunities.”

The governor said Hoyer has accepted the position of senior associate vice president at WVU, where he will continue on the governor’s COVID-19 advisory team and vaccination response. He will also continue working on economic development ventures such as Virgin Hyperloop.

“He has, and continues to be, a great friend, a great leader, a great person for the state of West Virginia,” Justice said. “Cathy and I are excited for him and Amy and their entire family as they enter a new chapter, and our general continues to serve me in this great state, and I could not be happier, could not be more honored.”

Justice appointed Brig. Gen. Bill Crane to serve as the new adjutant general in the West Virginia National Guard. Crane will take up the position on Jan. 4.