Governor Justice acknowledges treatment at Hopkins, says he’s back and better

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice, in a Saturday night telephone interview, acknowledged that he was ill enough this past week to seek treatment at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore but said he’s now doing fine.

The governor who described himself at home, resting and trying to find the Houston Texans/New England Patriots game on television, said he suffered from a viral infection and that going to Hopkins represented the fastest route for testing to determine the nature of the illness.

He said he has had a longstanding relationship with the staff at Johns Hopkins.

“I’ve had a personal relationship with the people at Johns Hopkins forever. I’d call my buddy, just like you call your buddy,” he said.

Although his staff issued a news release in the middle of this week describing the viral infection, Justice said that beyond that he hadn’t wanted to draw attention to his illness.

He also acknowledged, though, that he’d heard concerns about his health and said he understands that as the state’s chief executive he has a responsibility to disclose any serious illness.

“There may be a dark day. I may go out in the road and be run over,” Justice said, figuratively, a little after 8 p.m. Saturday.

“You hate to alarm anybody. I’ve always believed there are a few things about myself that ought to be private. If I felt impaired or anything like that I’d be the first to say I have a fiduciary duty to tell everyone what’s going o with my health.”

The governor hasn’t appeared in public since last Saturday and concern grew to the point among some lawmakers that there were public expressions of worry. The Johns Hopkins rumor ran hot all day Saturday until Justice himself acknowledged it was true.

“Praying for @WVGovernor to recover,” Delegate Gary Howell, R-Mineral, wrote on Twitter. In a similar post on Facebook, Howell responded to a question by saying he’d heard the governor’s illness was serious enough that he’d needed to be treated at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore.

Justice’s illness has happened at the same time his administration is in transition.

On Aug. 3, the governor announced at a rally for President Donald Trump that he would be switching his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. He fired chief of staff Nick Casey, a longtime Democrat, via telephone at midday this past Monday. Spokesman Grant Herring departed of his own volition after the party switch.

On Tuesday, the administration announced the hiring of state Senate Finance Chairman Mike Hall as the new chief of staff. The administration put out a news release but then canceled a press conference about the chief of staff position that had been planned for 10 a.m. Wednesday.

On Thursday, as Justice had to miss an annual Governor’s Day event at the West Virginia State Fair, the administration came out with a statement that included quotes from Justice.

The governor began Saturday night’s phone call with some jokes about the rumors circulating over his illness.

“I could say ‘Oh Brad, I’m going down, that’s it, I’m on my last breath, if I make it another hour that’ll be good. If I make it another hour, maybe I can get a few more chocolate chips in.'”

But then he went on to understand people’s concerns about his health. He’s a tall and large man, often out of breath and usually needing to sit down when he makes public appearances. At his State of the State address, he publicly commented on profuse sweating.

“Here’s the nitty-gritty of everything. First of all, people probably look at me and think he’s a great big guy and all this stuff. You know, they think how can he be in good health and everything?”

He had a fairly big day last Saturday, appearing at the West Virginia State Fair in Greenbrier County near his home. But on Sunday, he said, he started to feel poorly. He had a fever of 99.5 to 100.2, he said.

“I didn’t feel like throwing up or anything like that. I just felt bad. I went to my family doc in Beckley. He checked me out and did some blood work. He gave me some antibiotics. I started taking that and on Monday I still had the fever,” Justice said.

“So he said ‘Well, I think you’ve got a viral infection.’ I have no idea what that is. But there’s everything in the world could be that. Bacterial infections are stuff you can really treat with antibiotics. But a viral infection you’ve got to let it play out.”

Justice said his doctor at home told him, “There’s tests Johns Hopkins can do. And they can get the results back in 24 hours. I think you ought to go on up there. So on Tuesday I took off up there, which is real common for me.”

He said his family’s plane flew him to Johns Hopkins.

“So I took off up there, my plane, the whole bit and went and they ran umpteen, umpteen tests. I got there about 2:30 or 3 o’clock on Tuesday. To run a test you have to stay. On Wednesday morning, my fever was gone. On Thursday afternoon, about one o’clock I came home.”

A program called Flight Aware showed that a twin-jet Cessna registered to Justice Family Farms left Greenbrier Valley Airport at 6:06 p.m. Friday and landed in Baltimore a few minutes later, 6:47 p.m.

The airplane then left Baltimore at 7:06 p.m. Friday, returning to Greenbrier Valley Airport at 9:05 p.m. Those flights gained attention on social media Saturday evening among those wondering about the governor’s whereabouts.

The governor said that wasn’t the airplane he was on.

“For crying out loud our plane goes all over Kingdom Come,” he said. “I’m sure they’re picking up a friend or whatever it may be. It wasn’t anything to do with me and my hospital stay.”

A separate flight log for a Beechcraft Super King Air 200 registered to Encore Leasing of Daniels shows multiple flights between Greenbrier County and Baltimore-Washington International that match up with the timeline the governor described.

That airplane first flew from Greenbrier Valley Airport to Baltimore at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and then flew back from Baltimore and landed in Greenbrier County at 3:16 p.m. Thursday.

Good healthcare is available very close to the governor’s home. The Greenbrier Clinic, at the resort the governor’s family owns, is one of the finest health institutions in West Virginia

The governor said his time in the hospital in Baltimore was fine and he’s feeling rested and, nearly, ready to go.

“The worst of everything was laying in that crazy hospital bed. And If you are a big guy like me laying in that hospital bed like that, my lower back got all fired up,” Justice said.

“I feel fine now. They said for every day you’re in the hospital they say just stay away from going from your regular work. They said just take it easy through the weekend. I ought to be ready to go through the weekend.”

Monday stands to be a relatively big day at the Capitol. The state Legislature is in town for interim meetings, and the governor’s new chief of staff, Mike Hall, starts his job.

“Unless I go out here and somebody runs over my foot, I’ll be there Monday,” Justice said.





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