Gov. Jim Justice said today he wanted to clarify his position on a possible mask mandate, elaborating that he does not see the need right now but might in the future if covid-19 trends continue to get bad.
Justice said people misunderstood his position two days ago when he laid out the exact same position.
“We need to quit twisting words,” the governor said today. “We need to quit making up stuff.”
During a briefing two days ago, Justice said “I’m trying to give a lot of leeway to our local officials, but if this thing continues the way it’s going you’ll just have to look for the fact that we will have to adjust and we probably will have to end up moving in this direction.”
Today he laid out the exact same position, saying people didn’t understand him before.
“We need to clarify one more time on the mask. I don’t know why we need to clarify on the mask and the mandates,” Justice said. “If you absolutely believe you can sit in this chair and not be ready to move to a different position, you’re crazy.
“We do not need today in my opinion, a mask mandate today. Does that mean we’re never going to get to a mask mandate? I hope and pray that be the case. If this thing turns terribly ugly and the advice comes to move that way I’ll move that way.”
In other words, Justice is not ready to declare a mask mandate right now.
If conditions get worse and health advisers push him, he might change his position.
That position is how he was originally interpreted too.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail newspaper ran a headline, “Justice hints at return of mask mandates if delta variant gets worse.”
The West Virginia MetroNews headline from the first statement was, “Governor Justice hints at mask mandate if covid trends continue.”
WCHS-TV wrote, “No mask mandates, but Justice says W.Va. might have to move in that direction.”
The headlines reflect both the governor’s original words and his clarification, tying action to virus trends.
The governor singled out the Gazette-Mail today, saying the newspaper had misinterpreted him, perhaps intentionally.
“Evidently, because the Charleston Gazette can’t seem to God above to get it right, no matter what they try to do — maybe they purposely are just trying to get it wrong — but in regard to the face coverings, where we are right now is in the State of West Virginia, I see now need to absolutely put out any level of executive order to mandate face coverings at this point in time,” Justice said.
“You know, we’re going to leave that to the local control.” He continued, “From the standpoint of mandates, we always want to leave everything open and on the table, do we not?”
Justice reiterated his position three times during today’s briefing. The only way he defined when he might change his position is by, generally, saying it would depend on health leaders telling him he should.
“The net of the whole thing is we need to remember that right now there are no mandates, there are no plans for mandates and what we’re doing is we’re letting the local people make decisions because one size doesn’t fit all here,” Justice said the second time he went over it.
“We’re going to continue down that pathway until we reach a situation to where the medical community comes to me and says ‘Governor, you’ve got to move. You’ve got to move in this direction or that direction and then we’ll visit it and we’ll look at it in a different light. All we can do is continue to hope and pray we don’t reach those levels.”
West Virginia’s governor did object to moves by his counterparts in Florida and Texas to prevent local authorities from proceeding with their own precautions.
In Florida, he said, “You’ve basically got a mandate against a mandate.” In Texas, Justice noted covid numbers growing out of control.
As the effects of the delta variant have picked up, some states have returned to mask requirements in public places. Virginia officials announced requirements for masks in K-12 classrooms this week.
West Virginia’s covid cases have risen steadily in recent weeks, attributed to the rise of the delta variant. Today, the state recorded 5,312 active covid cases.
West Virginia cases requiring hospitalization hit 312 today. That number was 57 on July 4.
“That’s no good,” Justice said.
Covid patients requiring the intensive care unit surged to 109. That number was just 17 on July 4.
“That’s all tough stuff. I hope everybody is hearing me,” Justice said.
West Virginia officials continued to urge vaccination. Of West Virginia’s vaccine-eligible population, those ages 12 and above, just 57 percent are considered fully vaccinated.
“We are in a challenging spot, and we need more West Virginians to get vaccinated,” said Jim Hoyer, who leads West Virginia’s interagency response team.
Justice concluded today’s briefing by acknowledging the numbers are getting bad, saying he doesn’t believe the conditions call for a mask mandate right now and saying, again, that he might conclude differently in the future.
“We do not need today in my opinion, a mask mandate today. Does that mean we’re never going to get to a mask mandate? I hope and pray that be the case,” he said.
“If this thing turns terribly ugly and the advice comes to move that way I’ll move that way. Today, Jim Justice as your governor does not believe we need a mask mandate today.”
Jim Justice, as your governor, finished by turning to one of his favorite phrases to underscore how straightforward that is to understand.
“Just count the egg-sucking cows. You don’t need to count the legs and divide by four with me.”