3/4/2022
| CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice and members of the West Virginia COVID-19 pandemic response leadership team held another news briefing today to update the public on the state’s latest pandemic response and vaccine distribution efforts. |
| GOV. JUSTICE OBSERVES TWO-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST COVID BRIEFING, STATE OF PREPAREDNESS DECLARATION Gov. Justice announced that Friday marked the two-year anniversary of his very first statewide briefing to discuss COVID-19. It also marked the two-year anniversary of the day he issued a State of Preparedness for COVID-19 and gathered with members of his administration to discuss the state’s next moves as the disease approached. “I would have never believed that I’d still be in front of you talking about this two years later,” Gov. Justice said. “And even as long as it’s been, I still remember that day like it was yesterday. People were really scrambling around. We did not have a detected case in West Virginia yet, but we knew we had to get ready. So we got to work early on and we stayed ahead of the curve. West Virginia became the envy of the nation, if not the world. Here we were, out in front of everybody, because we gathered all the players together: the National Guard, the DHHR, all of the people that could give us real input into what was going on. “This was supposed to wipe West Virginia completely off the map,” Gov. Justice continued. “It could have. We were the third oldest state in the nation, with the most chronic illnesses of any state, and we were a state surrounded on all sides by big populations of people. But even with all of that stacked against us, we stayed ahead of the curve. “I want to take just a second today to thank all those out there that really did incredible work. You ran to the fire. All of our first responders, all those in the health care community across the board, the people that worked at the grocery stores; all West Virginians kept pulling the rope together. I could never thank you enough.” |
| CASE NUMBERS & VACCINE/BOOSTER INFO On Friday, Gov. Justice reported that there are now just 2,088 active cases of COVID-19 statewide. The prior day’s active case count of 2,049 was the lowest daily active case total since July 28, 2021. Over just the past five weeks, total active cases have decreased by more than 90%. COVID-19 Dashboard | Coronavirus.wv.gov Since nearing peak capacity in early February, West Virginia’s hospitals have seen the number of patients with severe cases of COVID-19 drop precipitously. Overall hospitalizations are down 61% since the most recent peak, while ICU patients are down 55% and patients on ventilators are down 59% in the same timeframe. An updated breakdown of the West Virginia County Alert Map is as follows: Red (0) | Orange (0) | Gold (1) | Yellow (7) | Green (47) |
| Still, after reading the ages and locations of another 59 individuals who have passed away from COVID-19 since Wednesday, Gov. Justice continued to urge West Virginians to get vaccinated and boosted. Initial series vaccinations are available for free for all West Virginians ages 5 and older and booster shots are authorized and encouraged for all West Virginians ages 12 and older. Read more about vaccines and boosters at Vaccinate.wv.gov and at CDC.gov. |
