MORGANTOWN — Gov. Jim Justice called his second coronavirus press conference in two days on Thursday, and appeared personally at this one. He announced a state employee travel ban and talked about readiness and prevention measures to mitigate the spread of the disease.
Also Thursday, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., held a conference call update on the disease from Capitol Hill.
Justice brought with him Cathy Slemp, state Health Officer and commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health; Bill Crouch, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources; and Adjutant General James Hoyer.
He ordered a state of preparedness last week, he said. “They’re ready for anything that could happen.”
Besides West Virginia, he said, only Maine and Iowa have no reported cases. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not coming.” Most of the population lives in border counties.
Justice said he ordered the ban on state employee travel out of state and out of the country on Thursday.
Going further, he is asking all West Virginians to reconsider all nonessential travel out of state.
He’s directed all state offices to avoid large meetings or gatherings, he said. And he’s order the state purchasing director to issue any needed exemptions so agencies can acquire supplies as part of their response to the virus.
Justice said the state is recommending that all resident at highest risk of having complications, including seniors and those with chronic health problems, to avoid contact with large crowds, especially places without good ventilation.
He emphasized that he ;s not asking people to go home and tape their windows. “We should still continue to live our lives as best we can, but we need to be smart.”
Asked how long the travel ban might last, Crouch said possibly three to four weeks, then they would reevaluate. “It depends on how things are moving forward. … These are just ways to reduce risk for the population in the state.”
Justice fielded several questions of the economic impact of the various measures, including shutting down the state basketball tournaments.
He said, “You’ve got to move the economic impact to the side and look out for the people first and foremost.”
People will suffer, he said, as they find themselves unable to handle some bills after missing work or losing business. “The state and the nation will have to step up to make our people whole. We can’t have a monster virus put us on our backs and run us off the financial cliff.”
But he warned against letting fear take over. “Fear is not going to be constructive here. But really just being totally aware and totally on guard and absolutely prudent in their thinking is how we need to be.”
Slemp said people, even those most susceptible, may need to go to a grocery store, or to a restaurant. The key is to pay attention to social distance – more than six feet apart to deter the sharing of germs – and go during less crowded times.
Capito said, “This is an ever-evolving situation.”
As President Trump said on Wednesday, she said, the nation is in a containment phase to contain spread of the virus. She’s been in contact with the White House and associated officials and agrees with the president’s travel ban, she said.
She’s been frustrated with the limited availability of testing kits, she said, but noted that the commercial labs are coming on board. And per federal instructions, insurance companies will waive copays for testing and extend coverage for treatment/
On the economic side, she said, small businesses are not equipped to handle an economic downturn or missing employees as easily as larger companies. So she’s pleased that the Small Business Administration will make available $50 million to help with economic loans.
The San Francisco International Airport, she said, has seen TSA screenings drop 40% from a year ago. “This is going to have long-lasting economic damage but the best thing we can do to stop the flow is prevent the flow of the disease.”
She noted that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has canceled next weeks’ time off for senators to make home district visits Instead, they’ll stay at the Capitol to work out some kind of health or economic stimulus package.
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