Half of West Virginia’s schools will have remote learning this week because of heightened community spread of covid-19, and West Virginia hit its highest levels in deaths and coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.
Gov. Jim Justice recognized such concerning trends this week and urged West Virginians to be careful. But Justice did not embrace any additional mitigation response.
“It’s not time to panic. It’s time to be cautious,” Justice said on Friday.
Twenty-seven West Virginia counties will have no classroom instructionl this coming week because of heightened levels of coronavirus shown on weekly map.
The Saturday evening map by the state Department of Education showed 12 counties on red, the highest community levels of covid-19. And there were another 15 counties on orange, which also designates remote learning.
So that’s 27 of West Virginia’s 55 counties without in-classroom instruction this coming week as covid-19 levels continue to rise across the state.
Red counties include Barbour, Berkeley, Grant, Hancock, Marshall, Mason, Mineral, Ohio, Wayne, Wirt, Wood and Wyoming counties.
Orange counties were Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Morgan, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Ritchie, Tyler, Upshur and Wetzel.
This is the first full week for West Virginia schools following an extended Thanksgiving break that Justice called because he was concerned about virus spread during the holiday break.
The map was released on a Saturday of stunning numbers by West Virginia standards.
The state recorded 30 covid-related deaths, a daily record since the pandemic began. Deaths go through a reporting process from the local level to the state level so sometimes there can be a lag or a big batch of reporting at once, but that’s still a big West Virginia number.
Today’s recorded deaths included a 36-year-old, a 47-year-old, a 51-year-old and a 54-year-old.
“Each loss is a heartbreak to a family and to our state,” stated Bill Crouch, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources. “I urge you to remember your actions for safety result in saving the lives of other West Virginians.”
West Virginia recorded 1,400 positive covid cases over the past 24-hour period with a 5.74 percent positivity rate.
There were 641 West Virginians in the hospital with covid-19, another record that has been growing sharply over the past month.
Of those, 177 require stays in the intensive care unit and 85 require treatment on ventilators.
Governor Justice, just a few days ago, talked about the possibility of pinpoint mitigation efforts for West Virginia counties with high levels of virus.
But in the past few days, he has expressed more reluctance to do so, saying people could just cross county lines and that he doesn’t think closing bars or restaurants would actually help much. He has consistency expressed reluctance for a broad shutdown, but also has said “all options are on the table.”
“This is everywhere. It’s everywhere. If anyone can tell me that shutting down 18 hairdressers in a county or wherever is going to make a significant difference, I’m ready to move,” Justice said.
In response to a question specifically addressing alarming numbers in Mineral County, the governor said, “Anybody who can bring me something to say closing this will significantly turn the dial, I’ll close it in a second.
The governor described some actions the state has taken such as making a face covering mandate a little more restrictive, extending the Thanksgiving break for schools and pushing off the winter sports season.
“It’s not like we’re just sitting here and wishing and hoping,” he said.
The state’s coronavirus response coordinator, Clay Marsh, said mitigation efforts can produce temporary results. He urged state residents to embrace face coverings and social distancing efforts.
“The truth is we have such an immense amount of power with us today to try to reduce, cut down the chain, reduce the spread of the virus,” Marsh said during Friday’s briefing.
Marsh is a part of the data review panel that provides oversight prior to the release of the Saturday map affecting school status.
The panel reviews data from a public health perspective to determine the accuracy and reliability of the data to ensure they are a true indication of what’s occurring among counties across West Virginia.
As a result of today’s review, the panel approved the following:
- Nicholas County: Moved from red to orange due to data validation and one duplicate case removed.
- Upshur County: Moved from gold to orange due to data validation and lab results updated to the correct residence.
The data contributing toward the Saturday Education Map is based on data from the DHHR’s County Alert Map as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, December 3, 2020. This cut off time is used to give time to verify the accuracy and completeness of all data to be utilized in the Saturday Education Map.