Jim Hoyer, who leads West Virginia’s interagency task force responding to the covid-19 pandemic, continues to be alarmed by the current hospitalization rate.
Showing a chart during a briefing today, Hoyer underscored the 670 hospitalizations of covid patients currently.
That is approaching the pandemic’s all-time high of 818 from last Jan. 5.
Worse, Hoyer said, the number of patients needing the intensive care unit is more than 200.
The all-time high for that figure came Jan. 6 when there were 219 patients in intensive care units.
“So we’re almost there,” Hoyer said.
Finally, the latest figures show 109 patients needing a ventilator. The highest level of ventilator use was also in January, but that number was never reached.
“In the last surge, our peak was 104 on Jan. 10,” Hoyer said.
Hoyer urged West Virginians to get vaccinated, pointing people toward dozens of clinics going on across the state.
“Get vaccinated,” he said. “That is the only way we are going to be able to manage this going forward.”
West Virginia’s covid-19 cases have been rising steadily for weeks, now at 17,664 active cases. On August 1, that number was 2,480.
Gov. Jim Justice, like Hoyer, has urged West Virginians to get vaccinated.
But Justice has resisted other measures such as reinstituting mandatory social distancing or facial coverings.
“I do not believe we need to move as far as a mask mandate or other mandates right now,” the governor said again today.
He did advise individuals, particularly older residents, that masks may be a valuable aspect of protection while out in public. “You’d probably be very wise whether you’ve been vaccinated or not to absolutely wear a mask,” he said. “It absolutely makes your odds better.”
This week the West Virginia Osteopathic Medical Association called on the governor to provide “clear leadership,” particularly a statewide mask mandate.
The organization said face coverings are one way to suppress cases to try to avert an overload of hospitals, along with vaccinations and social distancing.
“There are some beds available,” said Dr. Catherine Feagaa an osteopathic physician in Jefferson County and member of the osteopathic medical association’s board of trustees, while speaking on MetroNews’ “Talkline” today.
“What it means is there isn’t capacity in the system to handle big fluctuations in folks that need to be hospitalized because of covid. So we need folks to be proactive and prevent themselves from getting sick and needing hospitalization because of covid.”
The WV Osteopathic Medical Association has called upon Governor Justice to provide "clear leadership." Catherine Feaga, Osteopathic Physician in Jefferson Co, explains the reasoning by her and the association's message to @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/fzhL7OxiVV
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) September 1, 2021
Speaking at a separate briefing this morning, interim Kanawha County health officer Sherri Young highlighted a spike of covid cases.
“We are in a surge,” Young said. “It is an almost vertical line straight up, and that is alarming. If that continues on that trajectory if we don’t vaccinate, mask socially distance and be careful in all this we’re going to lose people. People are going to die.”
Young said 90 percent of the people who are covid-positive currently have not been vaccinated. She said 98 percent of the hospitalizations nationwide and in the Kanawha Valley are unvaccinated individuals. And she said 98 percent of deaths are in unvaccinated individuals.
“Get the vaccine if you have not already,” Young said.