CHARLESTON– Gov. Jim Justice announced at 9:45 p.m. April 4 that he has signed an executive order for Monongalia, Harrison and Kanawha counties as COVID-19 continues to spread. This executive order expands the order issued last evening for Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties.
The executive order will be available as a PDF after it is filed with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office.
“Right now, 38% of the COVID-19 positive cases in West Virginia are in these three counties,” Gov. Justice said. “If you add in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan counties, its 62% of all the positive cases in our state.
“I have been monitoring this situation all day and decided to take this action tonight after my medical experts advised me that these counties are the next areas where community clusters may soon develop. The additional measures I took yesterday for the Eastern Panhandle need to be applied to these counties as well. Today, we had reports of crowds at stores with the nice spring weather, but to stop the spread of COVID-19 we MUST stay at home as much as possible and we MUST remember to socially distance when we go out for necessities. The stay-at-home order and the guidelines by our medical experts need to be taken very seriously at this time.
“Again, I am going to continue to do everything in my power to protect the health and safety of all West Virginians.”
The order expands to Monongalia, Harrison and Kanawha counties and gives broad authority to their local health departments.
Provisions of the executive order include:
— Limiting groups to a maximum of 5 people.
— Directing ALL businesses to require employees to work from home to the maximum extent possible.
— Directing the local health departments to establish the maximum occupancy of and proper social distance within essential businesses and taking action to enforce these health regulations.
— Directing the West Virginia National Guard to provide logistical support and services to assist county agencies.Directing the West Virginia State Police to assist with enforcement of local county orders.
The Governor has directed his medical experts to continue to work with local health departments throughout West Virginia to ensure each county has the tools they need to best respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information about COVID-19 prevention and more, call the State’s toll-free hotline at 1-800-887-4304 or visit Coronavirus.wv.gov
