In 36 hours, 2,000 people from 38 states have filled out an application to move to West Virginia following the launch of the Ascend WV Remote Worker Program.
Gov. Jim Justice made this announcement during his Wednesday, April 14, Coronavirus press briefing.
The Ascend WV program was announced on Monday and will provide $12,000 cash and a year’s worth of free outdoor recreation to those who make the move into one of the state’s first three host cities including Morgantown, Shepherdstown and Lewisburg.
At least 55,000 people have expressed an interest in the move to West Virginia since the launch, but 2,000 of them took the time to fill out the application, which can take up to an hour. Justice said. Currently, there are 50 spots available in Morgantown.
This partnership between WVU and the West Virginia Tourism Office aims to create new kind of marketing campaign, one that doesn’t ask people to visit West Virginia but one that asks remote workers to live here.
The program will look to recruit folks looking to leave life in the big city to the refreshing beauty of West Virginia. West Virginia has a quality of life that’s hard to replicate anywhere else, Twilley stated. The recruitment program is solely to market West Virginia as a place to live, recreate and work remotely. One thing the WVU’s remote worker program will not do is employ those who apply.
The program was made possible after a $25 million dollar donation to West Virginia University by Brad and Alys Smith to recruit new residents to the Mountain State.
Additionally, during the press briefing, Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh stated that West Virginia will receive guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding the pause on the Johnson and Johnson Coronavirus vaccine after it was discovered that some individuals experienced abnormal blood clotting following the injection.
The odds of this rare blood clotting are estimated to be one in a million, Marsh said.
Dr. Ayne Amjad added that the 54,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine were administered in West Virginia. However, no blood clotting issues have yet occurred in the state.
“We want to stress that vaccination is important,” Amjad said. “We have plenty of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. We are ready to move as we need to, and we will get those to people who want them.”
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