CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s confirmed coronavirus cases continue to steadily grow, leading to the immediate closure of Kanawha County’s judicial annex after a court system worker was among the latest cases.
So Gov. Jim Justice addressed the entire state on Saturday night, warning West Virginians of dire consequences if people don’t stay home and away from each other to slow the spread of the virus.
“If I had waited, many more would have died,” Justice said Saturday night. “If you’ll join me right now, many, many more will live.”
Although other governor’s have begun issuing stay-home orders or closing “non-essential” businesses, Justice stopped short of that step. Instead, he sought the public’s attention to warn of the perils of treating the spread casually.
“Tonight I am telling you we are not going to shut down the entire state — now,” Justice said. “But you’ve got to know, just this: As we got forward, if we’ll absolutely employ all these things I’m going to tell you of tonight, maybe we can prevent that from happening. But we’ve got to move, and we’ve got to move stronger than we already are.”
Right now, Justice said, too much congregating among West Virginians remains. He estimated 60 percent are bearing down and the remaining 40 percent are still not persuaded.
“We know there’s been Bingo halls open, and we know there’s gatherings, really, in an unsafe way, whether you’re shopping at Walmart or you’re standing outside of the Dollar General Store.”
Justice appeared with Clay Marsh, executive dean for health sciences at West Virginia University.
They compared West Virginia’s situation to the trauma unfolding in New York. They noted that New York State’s population of 20 million is roughly 10 times more than West Virginia’s population.
And they said New York’s spread appears to be about 10 days ahead of West Virginia’s.
“We don’t want to wind up in 10 days where New York is today,” Justice said.
Marsh agreed:
“How do we prevent that from happening in our country and our state?” Marsh said. “Stay in our homes, don’t congregate, wash our hands for 20 seconds — sing ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘Country Roads,” don’t put your hands around your face.”
By the time Justice spoke on Saturday evening, state officials had confirmed four new cases of novel coronavirus, making the total confirmed cases 12. New cases were identified in Kanawha, Marshall, and Mercer counties.
The case from Kanawha was identified generally as a court system employee who has been hospitalized.
The court is working closely with the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department to directly contact all co-workers who may have been in contact with the individual, according to a statement from the court system. Coworkers are being notified of all recommended health and safety protocols.
The Kanawha County Commission, under the direction of Kanawha Charleston Health Officer Sherri Young, ordered the judicial building be immediately closed to the public.
Health officials said the patient had significant access to the building, which houses circuit court, magistrate court, family court and the offices of the Kanawha County Clerk.
In his address, Governor Justice warned that West Virginia could face additional consequences if people don’t take social distancing measures seriously.
“There’s still a lot more we can do. If we will not drift more into the spin cycle and will employ all the good things we’ve already done, we’ll be OK,” Justice said.
“If we don’t act, and we don’t act as strongly as possible right now — we’re going to lose lives and lots of lives.”
Justice said he considered not giving the address but wound up believing the message was vital.
“To just tell it like it is, in many ways, I was hesitant to come to you,” he said. “I was afraid not to come to you. And the reason I was afraid not to come to you was because of what could happen.”