Doctor Clay Marsh, sounded hopeful, but also cautious on Talkline Thursday.
WVU’s Vice President and Executive Dean for Health Sciences, who Governor Justice has just named the state’s COVID-19 Czar, had just seen new numbers on the infection rate in West Virginia.
“Two days ago, it was 5.1 percent (percent of confirmed cases of those tested) and today it’s about 5 percent, so we are staying steady at that level.”
That doesn’t mean West Virginia has accomplished the goal of “flattening the curve,” but it does mean the state has been successful at “pushing the curve to the right,” Marsh said.
Each day the curve is delayed is another day the state can prepare, obtain and stockpile more equipment, understand better how the virus works and plan for a possible surge in patients.
“We’ve bought ourselves some more time,” he said at a briefing later in the day.
That might be the best news we’ve had in the last two weeks. Yes, West Virginia went for a period without any cases and there was another lag before community spread, but we knew they were coming, and now they are here.
The key is can West Virginians continue following directives from Governor Justice and health officials to stay at home, work from home, maintain social distance and practice good hygiene so that the virus does not get a foothold large enough to trigger a surge.
“We’re making headway,” said Governor Jim Justice at his Thursday briefing. “But we’re a long way from being over this. Stay the course.”
So far, health workers and first responders have done a remarkable job of testing and quickly containing the few outbreaks that have occurred. The rest of West Virginia owes them an ongoing debt of gratitude for their work.
If we want to know what we can do for them, we can abide by the message WVU Medicine health workers at a testing site sent out this week. The workers, in full protective gear, held signs that read, “We stayed at work for you. You stay at home for us.”
Dr. Marsh clearly does not want to be overly optimistic. He cautions that the curve that will cause a surge in patients that could overwhelm the healthcare delivery system in the state is still looming.
“This is not a sprint; it’s a little more of a middle-distance run, not a longer distance,” Marsh said. “We have to be very vigilant. I have a feeling that West Virginians have really embraced this. It’s going to be a while, but we’re doing really well right now.”
We do have a long way to go, but it helps to have some encouragement along the way and to know that we in West Virginia are doing what needs to be done.