MORGANTOWN — Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday gave his plan to vaccinate seniors and school staff a name: Operartion SOW – Save Our Wisdom. He announced 10 clinics planned around the state to vaccinate those 80 and up.
He also spent more time talking about the New Year’ Eve party at The Greenbrier that stirred controversy across the state.
The Operation SOW clinics will be offered in 10 counties starting Thursday, Justice said. Some will require no appointment, others will require seniors to call for information.
Among the 10 clinics is one set at the National Guard armory in Morgantown, from 9 a.m.to 7 p.m. Thursday and noon to 6:30 p.m. Friday. Those interested are instructed to call for information. The state vaccine hotline is 833-734-0965. The vaccine website is vaccinate.wv.gov.
Operation SOW also will take in K-12 teachers and staff, starting with those 50 and up. This is also set to begin Thursday. Justice said details will be distributed through the Department of Education to the superintendents of each county.
He hopes to communicate the need for the vaccines to all teachers and staff, he said, and plans to get the word to them in a variety of ways. Those ways will not include contacting the teacher unions, he said. He turned to politics, noting the unions opposed his re-election but their promoted candidate lost in every county, and union members should not fell well served by their leaders.
“We can’t just let the wisdom die away,” Justice said of Operation SOW, “You are so precious to us in every way.”
Gen. James Hoyer, leading the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force, said that they hope to provide as many as 650 doses at each location, depending on availability. Meanwhile, local health departments and other organizations will continue their programs and will be asked to use appointments so people aren’t left waiting and possibly wait for nothing.
Justice brought on Todd Jones, President of AMFM Nursing & Rehabilitation Centers — which operates 19 centers across the state – to talk about rolling out the second round of Pfizer vaccines for its staff and residents and at 48 other clinics across the state.
West Virginia is the first state to provide both doses for long-term care facilities, he said. That’s promoted calls from all over. “It’s very nice to be leading the country.”
The Greenbrier again
Justice talked about the criticism that continues regarding the party at The Greenbrier, where a widely circulated video showed people partying unmasked.
People have developed trust in him as he’s led the pandemic response he said. But with this, some are “promoting the cast of doubt.”
They can’t have it both ways he said: require him to keep his nose out of his family businesses but hold him accountable for this, when he wasn’t there. “I had no clue. … You may throw rocks at me if you choose to do so.”
He received a copy of a press release issued by The Greenbrier while he was speaking. The release outlines the protocols The Greenbrier has followed and followed that night.
“All these protocols were expanded across all restaurants and bars across our facility,” the release said. “Upon review of the published video from the New Year’s Eve gathering in the Upper Lobby, some of the guests in attendance were not wearing face coverings. Those guests appeared to be actively drinking without a face covering, which is allowed per guidelines.
“One of the event managers said that people started gathering in the Upper Lobby around 11:45pm and by 12:03am they had dispersed,” the release said.
Because people are insisting he be involved in this, he said, he’s ordered that the investigation continue and Greenbrier staff will get disciplined immediately if it’s discovered they permitted violations of protocols. “If they genuinely screwed this up there will be you-know-what to pay.”
He also instructed The Greenbrier to double down on its implementation of safety protocols, he said.
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Here is the full release from The Greenbrier:
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, The Greenbrier has always been in strict compliance with all health guidelines. We continue to be in constant contact with the Greenbrier County Health Department regarding the guidelines, contact tracing, social distancing and mask mandates.
During the evening, all guidelines were strictly complied with, including socially distanced dining, no live entertainment or dance floors, and face coverings were required at all times when not actively eating or drinking.
In all dining venues the chairs were spaced six feet apart. Our Casino followed all West Virginia Lottery regulations, including no more than two patrons per table, patrons were not allowed to touch playing cards, and every other slot machine was disabled.
All these protocols were expanded across all restaurants and bars across our facility.
Upon review of the published video from the New Year’s Eve gathering in the Upper Lobby, some of the guests in attendance were not wearing face coverings. Those guests appeared to be actively drinking without a face covering, which is allowed per guidelines.
One of the event managers said that people started gathering in the Upper Lobby around 11:45pm and by 12:03am they had dispersed.
The Greenbrier has always taken the COVID-19 pandemic and takes its impact on our guests and staff very seriously. We continue to screen all team members, guests, vendors and contractors before they are allowed to enter Resort property.
