CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice said Monday it would be “wonderful” if the state could move in its treatment of COVID-19 from a pandemic to an endemic.
Some states, including California and Utah, have made the move to endemic. That’s when a disease remains present but is limited to a particular region.
Gov. Justice and members of his coronavirus leadership term indicated at Monday’s briefing the state is getting closer to the transition.
“And wouldn’t be wonderful? In all honesty,” Justice said. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could start pulling out of this?”
More specifically, state Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh said with the continuing decreases of active case numbers and hospitalizations the state “is anticipating very soon to coming to an important fork in the road.”
“Presumably we will be navigating and transitioning to a more endemic sort of mode which will take a little bit for that to navigate its way through,” Marsh said. “The more people that are now immunologically capable, as we’re seeing today versus any other time of the pandemic, the more likely that we will see this start to fade from more pandemic to epidemic to more endemic, but that’s the point where we are right now.”
COVID-19 related hospitalizations are now below 700 in West Virginia. The latest DHHR dashboard shows 645 hospitalizations–the lowest number since before Christmas. Active cases also continue to drop, now listed at 4,665.
Marsh cautions the state also prepare for any unexpected turns.
“The COVID virus has been very capable and resilient—so not counting it out in case it takes a different turn,” Marsh said.
Boosters increase
State InterAgency Task Force Director Jim Hoyer reported Monday a significant jump in booster vaccinations in recent days.
“We had a good weekend, a good solid weekend, for the categories of boosters shots–for those not only over 18 but those over 50 and those over 65,” Hoyer said.
Flu case numbers down
State Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad reported flu cases are down for a second straight year.
“I do think that our use of hand-washing and our mask use did help,” Amjad said.
Amjad told MetroNews there have been more than 11,000 respiratory tests given in West Virginia during the past two weeks and only 129 cases came back as positive for the flu. She said that’s less than 2% of the overall tests.
Amjad added flu vaccinations were below where they hoped they would be.
“We did not see the uptick of the flu vaccine higher than previously but the flu cases were lower than before so that was a good thing,” Amjad said.
The latest numbers show only 44% of eligible residents have received a flu shot which trails last year’s numbers.