MORGANTOWN — Gov. Jim Justice once again took a chunk of time Wednesday to defend his expanded mask order and clarify his plans. He also ruled out, for now, a special session to allow the Legislature to enact penalties for violating the order, but left the door open.
“Jim Justice does not want to shut down anything in this state,” he said. “What have I done? What have I shut down?”
Apart from the initial closures, and then the long re-closure of the Monongalia County bars, he said, he’s closed nothing and doesn’t want to. “Absolutely get that out of your mind.”
He also doesn’t want to take away people guns or enter their homes, he said. “Please stop that nonsense.”
For those who don’t want to wear masks, he said, “I wish to goodness you would really reconsider. … It won’t last forever.”
Across the U.S., he said, 1,707 people died of COVID on Tuesday, with 161,934 new cases in the past 24 hours. Here, three counties were red and 15 orange. In McDowell County, the Stevens Corrrectional Center has 260 active inmate cases and 30 staff cases – compared to eight inmate cases across the rest of the state.
“It absolutely goes through us like butter,” he said. For those stirring up resentment and urgingpeopleto not comply, “Quit scaring people. … We don’t need to shut anything down. We’re not going to shut anything down unless this thing continues to get worse and worse and worse. … I really don’t think we’re going to have to shut down anything.”
It’s been said many times Justice can’t enact penalties for disobeying the mask mandate and he was asked Wednesday why he doesn’t call the Legislature into session to do it.
He doesn’t think he’ll need to, he said, but added, “I am not opposed to that.”
He’s previous said 95% of West Virginians support mask wearing. He said Wednesday, “I think our people need to speak up more, too.” If they want a special session, they need to call their legislators and his office and make it known. “We need to absolutely be covered up with calls saying, ‘Please do the right thing.’”
In the meantime, he doesn’t want to pit people against each other. “We just need to try to continue to encourage in a positive way.”
The Dominion Post passed along a question from readers who work out at gyms and were unclear if the updated mandate requires them to wear their masks when they work out. Before Monday, they had to wear the mask while entering, exiting and traversing the gym but not while working out.
COVID-19 Czar Clay Marsh said the updated order requires people to wear masks at all times in public indoor spaces, including gyms. If they have difficulty breathing during physical exertion, they should reduce the level of exertion or go outside and separate in order to exert without wearing a mask.
Tweet David Beard@dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
