West Virginia leaders are pointing toward updated modeling that shows the effects of conavirus peaking on Easter with far fewer deaths than earlier anticipated.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jim Justice also added four counties — Cabell, Wayne, Wood and Ohio — to the seven that were already considered hotspots. That means enhanced social distancing guidelines.
And Justice promised $100,000 block grants for each of West Virginia’s 55 counties for “hero pay” to reward frontline workers.
All in all, it was a lot of news for a briefing late on Good Friday.
“Please, please just stay the course,” Justice said, encouraging state residents to continue social distancing efforts during the holiday weekend and beyond.
“If In fact Easter is the peak, we’re on the downhill slide here.”
By 5 p.m. Friday, 574 West Virginians had confirmed cases of coronavirus.
That was out of 15,101 people who have been tested.
Five state residents have died.
State officials have been watching projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, associated with the University of Washington.
Earlier on, the institute’s model predicted an early May peak for West Virginia and about 500 deaths.
But updated versions of the model, based on additional information, have scaled back the earlier predictions.
The model also accounts for preventative measures such as school closures and stay-home orders.
West Virginia’s model now shows peak resource use on April 12, which is Sunday. And it anticipates 74 coronavirus-related deaths.
But the model still displays a range of possibility — with an upper reach of 352 deaths still possible.
The model also anticipates social distancing continuing through May.
Notice a couple of things: The time period considered goes on well past the anticipated peak, Easter.
Also, see the yellow area? That indicates a range of possibilities for West Virginia deaths. At this point, the upper number is actually 352
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) April 10, 2020
It’s good news, state leaders said, but not time to ease up.
“We still have the same vulnerable population,” said Clay Marsh, the state’s coronavirus response coordinator.
“We have bought ourselves more time; we have protected people we love.”
Justice advised continued precautions, including the application of an executive order to the four new hotspot communities to tighten social distancing guidelines.
Justice’s executive order for hotspots is meant to limit groups to a maximum of five people and directs all businesses to require employees to work from home “to the maximum extent possible.”
It authorizes the county health departments to limit occupancy of any businesses that remain open to the public and designates support from the State Police and the West Virginia National Guard.
Updated numbers on Friday afternoon showed 21 cases for Cabell County, 21 cases for Ohio County, 18 cases for Wood County and 17 for Wayne County.
On “hero pay,” Justice said he considered various ways to reward front-line workers but no particular method was perfect.
“It becomes way too complicated if I say this person is a qualifier and this person does not,” he said.
So block grants will be distributed equally among counties, with local authorities determining how best to use the money from there.
Asked whether that’s fair to higher population counties, Justice said they often have greater resources for such rewards.
“A lot of our smaller counties are our poorer counties too and maybe they just don’t have the resources to be able to help.”
Kanawha County officials, who earlier voted to allocate their own reward of “hero pay,” put out a statement thanking the governor for his decision.
Kanawha thanking @WVGovernor for the hero pay pic.twitter.com/Ho5X0IdtdA
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) April 10, 2020