Gov. Jim Justice announced West Virginia is in condition to start the first phase of reopening and hinted strongly that a stay-at-home order will soon be eased but likely not lifted just yet.
“I think in the days ahead, I think tomorrow, you will see some level of lifting and some level of changing and moving toward a safer-at-home approach than a stay-at-home,” Justice said in response to a question about whether the order would be lifted.
Starting Thursday, he said, West Virginia’s activity can take a first step of ramping back up, the resumption of elective procedures by medical providers.
“Now we’ve got to bring our state back to life, and we have to move to bring our state back to some type of normalcy,” Justice said Wednesday evening in a press briefing.
He said life will change because of continued coronavirus precautions. But he also said West Virginia can wait no longer to restart much of its economic activity.
“It’s going to be with us, and we’re going to have to live with it. We can’t sit back and just not reopen. We can’t sit on our hands and dwindle away,” he said.
On Monday, Justice said the state could begin the opening stages of reopening if it hit 3 percent of cumulative positive testing results for three straight days.
So Wednesday’s testing results came in with a cumulative mark of 2.59 percent, reaching the goal for the third day.
That number came from 1,109 positive test results being divided by 42,784 overall tests.
Because the results are cumulative, with tests dating back to March, any one day’s additions would need to be overwhelming to change the number.
Nevertheless, West Virginia has been consistently trending with relatively low numbers for weeks.
This doesn’t throw the door wide open to resume normal life.
Justice’s plans says West Virginia should still continue to practice social distancing, wear face coverings in public places, follow the statewide stay-home order until it is lifted and telework when possible.
“Wash your hands. For crying out loud, wear a mask. I would be a proponent of you wearing a mask almost all the time if you’re going to be around people,” he said.
But this does kick off a phased-in approach to resuming economic activity.
The first phase of opening, starting as soon as Thursday, includes the resumption of elective medical procedures. Justice had already said on April 20 that he planned to make that move.
The stoppages were put in place to conserve personal protective equipment such as surgical masks, gloves and gowns.
But West Virginia never experienced a surge to overwhelm medical providers, and many described economic strain as they shut down activity as a coronavirus precaution.
So now hospitals and other providers such as dentists and physical therapists may resume if they determine they are ready.
Justice, asked on Wednesday evening which health care sectors might be opening as soon as Thursday, didn’t have many specifics. He said the state boards that oversee them were providing guidance.
“We’re telling them they can open, but we’re not telling them they have to open.”
The guidance for Week 1 also says day care facilities will begin testing of staff, moving toward reopening. He said the Department of Health and Human Resources has started providing guidance to some facilities. But ultimate decisions would be up to the individual day care.
“We don’t have any right to impose on anyone what to do,” he said.
But as West Virginians with children return to work, the governor added, “We need ’em open.
Week 2, if West Virginia continues to hit the goal, would start Monday.
That includes reopenings for small businesses of less than 10 employees, professional services such as hair and nail salons or barbershops by appointment only, outdoor dining at restaurants and the resumption of worship services with limited gathering sizes.
Justice’s administration released guidance on Tuesday for the small businesses, restaurants and churches, including steps mean to assure social distancing.
Additional areas of the economy are lined up to open in Weeks 3 through 6.
Justice has said reopening could pause, stop or reverse, though, if there is a spike in the number above 3 percent.
That 3 percent figure has received some scrutiny from state residents because its cumulative nature means it would be hard to change with new results.
State officials had also earlier described a standard of 14 days of declining test results before reopening. That is the standard put out by the White House a couple of weeks ago.
Senator John Unger, D-Jefferson, today questioned whether West Virginia’s standard for reopening takes into account the conditions in specific regions of the state.
In particular, Unger noted how close the Eastern Panhandle counties are to the hotspots surrounding Washington, D.C.
“I’m in the category I want to go back. But I want to open up with eyes wide open, not blindfolded,” Unger said in a Wednesday afternoon telephone interview.
“To me, not having the data specifically for my region, specifically for the county does a disservice to the people here. The cumulative is fine for the state. But as far as making decisions in the Eastern Panhandle or other border counties, we need more specific data.”
Unger also questioned the relatively quick transitions between phases of reopening compared to the turnaround for test results.
“If this thing goes south, how fast can we know it? Seven days, 10 days out when we get the tests back in? Does it mean we just keep moving forward?” Unger asked. “What I want is for them to have all that information.”