Gov. Jim Justice said West Virginia’s coronavirus numbers are deeply worrying but stopped short of proposing new mitigation steps or adjusting a map of virus spread to prompt any actions beyond limiting nursing home visitation and keeping students home from school.
“West Virginia, we are absolutely getting worse by the day, and this situation is critical,” the governor said during a briefing today about the state’s covid-19 response.
Justice spent the first few minutes of today’s briefing going over alarming updates.
“I call on West Virginians at this time, not only for your prayers, but to know we are reaching a very critical time,” he said.
West Virginia’s coronavirus response coordinator, Clay Marsh, agreed with the assessment.
“We have as much of a challenge with covid-19 as we have any day since we started,” Marsh said.
The rate of spread in West Virginia is worst in the country at 1.35 and has been in that position since late last week. A few weeks ago, the state’s rate was among the country’s best.
If the rate is above 1.0, the virus will spread quickly. When the rate is below 1.0, the virus will stop spreading.
The daily percent positive was 7.78 percent, well above numbers just a few weeks ago. Yesterday, that number was 7.35 percent.
West Virginia’s cumulative rate continues to climb, now at 2.55 percent.
Nine counties were unable to open classrooms this week because of the number of daily positive cases over the past seven days. Pocahontas County, rural and with a relatively low population, joined them with an orange designation today, prompting heightened precautions in schools.
“We are at a critical point, and the odds are it could even be worse,” Justice said, adding that as school opens, “the odds are we get more exposed.”
And, perhaps adding insult to injury, West Virginia was added to lists of states where travelers must quarantine if they’re traveling to New Jersey or Connecticut.
“Are you kidding me? New York and Connecticut?” Justice said incredulously. “The places it was the worst of the worst, and they’re looking at West Virginia as a place they need to be concerned about?”
Today 4 states were added to NY's travel advisory.
Visitors traveling from Delaware, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia must quarantine upon arriving in NY.
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have been removed from the list.
Learn more ⬇️https://t.co/V3Xo9eDwJy
— State of New York (@NYGov) September 8, 2020
But when Justice was asked if further measures need to be taken to suppress the spread of coronavirus in counties depicted as red or orange on the state’s map, he demurred.
“We’re looking at that very, very closely. It is a critical time,” the governor said.
The governor said he and his advisers will consider what additional steps may be taken.
“It’s a time that I absolutely think about. It’s a time we need to react,” Justice said.
He added, “We’re looking at every aspect of that, and we’re looking at these numbers like never before.”
When classrooms couldn’t reopen in some counties this week, parents expressed criticism that the state’s map affects schools but not other areas where people gather such as bars or churches.
Justice has said he’d love to have all students in classrooms but that his first priority is to assure health and safety.
Yet he expressed reluctance to order other kinds of shutdowns in counties where the spread of coronavirus is judged to be high.
‘I hope we do not get into a situation where we’re shutting down our essential businesses, whether it’s a hair salon or whatever it may be,” the governor said. “But we’re watching it.”