MORGANTOWN – While COVID cases and hospitalizations are steadily dwindling, Gov. Jim Justice and his team remain vigilant as chilly weather sets in.
“It’s starting to get colder, it’s absolutely going to be more and more and more folks inside. The chances absolutely of this things spreading even faster are surely more with people gathered together inside,” Justice said Wednesday, continuing to urge vaccines and boosters.
Wednesday’s numbers: 912 active cases (the omicron urge peak was 3,543 on Sept. 2), 153 hospitalizations (the peak was 397 Aug. 9), 29 in ICUs and 10 on ventilators (that number has remained fairly steady since April).
Joint Interagency Task Force Director Gen. James Hoyer took a question about ongoing concerns as flu season sets in.
There are still staffing challenges across the whole medical system, he said. And fall/winter could bring another COVID spike, plus flu cases plus cold-weather related respiratory illnesses. “We want to continue to look closely at that.”
The state never reached the 500 COVID hospitalizations threshold that was a concern during the recent surge. But that number remains a trigger point in terms of maintaining the integrity of the system, he said.
COVID-19 Czar Clay Marsh added that what they are seeing in Europe and worldwide regarding case numbers and immunity suggests we’re less likely to see tremendous surges and COVID patients overwhelming hospitals during the winter, but many hospitals are still playing catch-up on procedures from previous surges.
So they still worry they could have problems taking care of all the people they need to take care of if it gets worse, he said.
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