MORGANTOWN — The number of positives cases of coronavirus in West Virginia continues to rise but the rise is slight and the state is trending better than the rest of the nation, officials said during Tuesday’s daily press briefing. But it’s still too early to the need for social distancing might pass.
Meanwhile, they said, unemployment claims continue to pour in to WorkForce West Virginia; WorkForce and the National Guard are starting to clear the backlog and WVU is pitching in some helping hands.
Tuesday’ data from the Department of Health and Human Resources put the number of positive cases at 412 out of 12,059 reported tests, giving a rate of 3.42% positive among all tests reported. Monday’s numbers were 345 positive cases out of a total 9,940 tests, for a 3.47% rate. The number of deaths remained at four.
Gov. Jim Justice said that while the number of positives grows, as would be expected, the rate is trending down. He credited that to the precautions residents continue to take. “It really is making a difference. … Our power is our ability to cripple this disease by staying away from one another.”
Nationally, he said, the positive test rate is 18.51%. And the difference isn’t because we’re testing significantly fewer people. As a percentage of population, the national average is .592% tested compared to .557% in West Virginia.
The three counties with the highest positive counts are Kanawha, 61; Monongalia, 60; and Berkeley, 57. COVID-19 Czar Clay Marsh said those hot spots make sense: Berkeley is part of the DC metropolis, Mon is closely connected to Pittsburgh, a Pennsylvania hot spot; and the the state Capitol sits in Kanawha.
“Our percent of positives is still relatively low,” he said. He offered his daily encouragement, saying that instead of focusing on the future’s uncertainty, “we should recognize the incredible gifts that we’re given.” We’re doing well because we’re able to pull together and help each other, and by extension help and communities, our state, and our health care workers.
DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch said that taking early measures some saw as unnecessary are paying off. “We truly do not want to relax.” The projections say we cold still have more cases, and the state is preparing for a possible surge, readying St. Francis Hospital in Charleston to handle any surge that overwhelms other hospitals.
On Monday, Marsh referred again to the University of Washington model used to predict the growth and spread of the pandemic in the U.S. He said then that because of West Virginia’s ongoing measures, the model’s projections have improved for the state. The surge of cases that was predicted to peak around May 4 has moved up to April 15.
That comment prompted questions to The Dominion Post about the possibility of congregating once again and planning graduation and commencement ceremonies in May.
Asked about that Tuesday, Justice said, “We’re doing a whole lot more than crossing our fingers and hopeful of just that. … Nothing would tickle me more. … There’s still so much uncertainly it would be difficult for any of us to say with certainty.”
WVU announced on March 25 that it will hold a virtual online commencement, called Mountaineer Graduation Day, on May 16, with an in-person celebration in December. Further details on Mountaineer Graduation Day will be announced.
At Mon County Schools, Donna Talerico, assistant superintendent of schools, reiterated that
the district announced last week that it’s suspending prom and graduation for the county’s three public high schools. The BOE, Talerico said Tuesday, is standing firm on that for now — peak cases next month, or no.
“Right now, we can’t do anything until we have the confidence that people will be safe,” she said.
On the issue of unemployment claims, Justice restated that March brought in 90,000 claims compared to 3,400 in an average March. April’s daily claims are running from 2,000 to 6,700. “Taking an aspirin for cancer wasn’t going to help us.” So he called on the National Guard.
The Guard has 30 people helping WorkForce West Virginia answer calls around the clock and getting cross-trained to process claims, and WVU has pledged 10 people to pitch in. Adjutant General James Hoyer said.
With the Guard’s help Justice said, WorkForce processed 28,500 claims in a single day. “We’re catching up and we’re catching up really really fast.”
Additionally, Justice said, on Tuesday WorkForce began distributing the $600 per week of Pandemic Unemployment Compensation checks made possible by the federal CARES Act. Those checks come on top of state unemployment compensation.
Officials have said several times that the testing data reported to DHHR every day doesn’t include the number of negative tests processed by private labs. Bureau of Public Health Commissioner Cathy Slemp expanded on that on Tuesday.
Private labs are able to send test data to DHHR electronically, she said, but the COVID-19 test is new and some private labs are equipped yet to feed that data into DHHR’s system. They’re working it. Faxing the negative test data would require hand transcription by DHHR and be too time consuming.
One effect of the unreported negative tests, officials noted, is that the positive percentage – 3.42% onTuesday – is actually skewed a bit high.
On Monday, it was reported that a tiger in the Bronx Zoo in New York City tested positive for COVID-19. Asked about that on Tuesday, Slemp said some animals may be able to catch it from humans, but it’s unclear if it can be passed back and forth. The general advice for those who have coronavirus symptoms is to stay away from your pets.
Justice closed with a word of advice to health care and essential workers who have symptoms or a fever and feel they are being pressured to work. “If you feel bad and you’ve got a fever, no one is going to penalize you. If you feel bad we don’t want you working.” Working will only expose others and make the problem worse.
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
Reporter Jim Bissett contributed to this story.
