The Greater Greenbrier COVID-19 Task Force met Tuesday, February 1, via conference call and reports the following information.
– GREENBRIER COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT. The local health department is no longer making one-on-one contacts for COVID case management, per state order. Folks who test positive will still receive educational information. We are no longer issuing work or school excuses either, per state order. If you test positive, just provide a test result to your school or employer. Some folks have asked how long active cases stay on the case counts. On our local stats page, we leave active cases on for 10 days.
– MAVERICK LABS provides free drive up, in car COVID testing at the State Fair parking lot ticket booth, 9:30am – 3pm Monday-Friday, and Sundays 10am-4pm. If Greenbrier County Schools are delayed or closed, Maverick Labs will also be delayed or closed.
– GREENBRIER COUNTY SCHOOLS. The current CDC guidance allows those who test positive to leave isolation after 5 days and continue to wear a mask for another 5 days. It’s the same guidance for those who are exposed to a positive case. This guidance allows us to get folks back in school a little faster. The “Test to Stay program” is going well and parents have been appreciative of the free take home COVID tests.
– GREENBRIER VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER. Covid numbers: 18 covid positive patients in house, one on ventilator. Monoclonal Antibody Therapy: Monoclonal antibody (MAB) therapy is now extremely limited. The FDA has removed the authorization for use of Regeneron and Bamlanivimab/Etesevimab (Bam/Ete) due to prevalence of the Omicron variant (now > 99% of cases nationally). Omicron is resistant to Regeneron and Bam/Ete and are no longer effective at treating the virus. Sotrovimab is an MAB that is still effective against Omicron, but supply of the drug is extremely limited. We will be getting anywhere from none to only a handful of doses on a weekly basis. We are following directions from State and Federal agencies for distribution of Sotrovimab based on patient risk factors. Distribution is being prioritized to patients at the highest level of risk for severe disease or death from COVID infection. Visitation: Visitors are permitted inside the facility on a limited basis — one visitor per patient at a time between the hours of 11am – 8pm. After hours and on weekends, enter through the emergency department. Gift shop closed until further notice. Visitation info: https://www.gvmc.com/patients-visitors
– WVSOM. Students have returned to campus. Rapid tests were provided to all students who may have been exposed prior to returning. Staff are allowed to work remotely if exposed. The school increased the protocols for student labs to include masks and face shields.
– ROBERT C BYRD CLINIC. We’re providing drive-up COVID-19 testing Monday-Friday, 9am to Noon, and 1pm-3pm. Please call (304) 645-3220 to make an appointment. Please be careful out there. Since the first of this year we have seen around a 30% positive testing rate for COVID tests, as well as a lot of flu. This means that ⅓ of every COVID test has come back positive. We have COVID vaccines available as well as flu vaccines. Don’t forget that people in the community can order free at-home COVID testing kits from the Federal Government through the Post Office by going to https://www.covidtests.gov/. There are very few monoclonal antibody treatments currently available because the Food and Drug Administration has limited the use of some types of monoclonal antibodies since they have been shown to not be effective against the Omicron COVID variant.
– RAINELLE MEDICAL CENTER. Calling to make an appointment for COVID testing or a vaccine is the best option (304-438-6188). COVID testing is available everyday by appointment. We don’t have monoclonal antibody treatments currently because of the changes in emergency use authorization. We are seeing a significant number of flu cases, and we do have flu vaccines available. COVID test results continue to take 48-72 hours or sometimes longer to return due to high volumes. We have a limited supply of the antiviral medications in our pharmacies at RMC and Maxwelton. Still requiring masks for entry into our facilities and seeing very high numbers of Covid positives.
– COMMITTEE ON AGING. Our centers remain closed for activities and meals (Fairlea and Rupert), but we continue to offer in-home/delivery services. We are also continuing to provide all regular services. Masks are required at our facilities.
Submitted by Senator Stephen Baldwin, chair of the task force.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of February 1, 2022, there are currently 12,843 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There have been 15 deaths reported since the last report, with a total of 5,778 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
“The loss of additional lives is painful to report,” said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. “Together, we can end transmission of this deadly virus by choosing to be vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.”
To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit www.coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.
Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested. Please visit www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.
West Virginians ages 5 years and older are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Boosters are also available for those 12 and older. To learn more about the vaccine, or to find a vaccine site near you, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965.
During the Monday, January 31, briefing, Governor Jim Justice and members of the West Virginia COVID-19 pandemic response leadership team announced that he would be joining with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, sending a joint letter to the U.S. Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, calling on CMS to grant a limited waiver of its vaccination requirement at rural or state-run facilities due to severe staffing shortages.
“We understand that the Supreme Court has ruled that this mandate can go into effect, but it is putting an additional level of strain on our rural hospitals that is just destroying us,” Gov. Justice said. “Maybe that works for more-populated areas. But in rural West Virginia, we can’t afford to have all these folks terminated because of their vaccination status. It’s just going to make it tougher and tougher for us to provide care in our rural hospitals.
“So I am joining the governor of Virginia, requesting a waiver for rural hospitals to not have to abide by this mandate,” Gov. Justice continued. “It is only putting additional pressures on us. It is not saving lives. It is not helping people in this situation. It is hurting us and hurting us in a bad way.”
COVID-19 booster shots are now authorized and encouraged for all West Virginians ages 12 and older. … West Virginians can go to any location offering COVID-19 vaccines with their vaccination card to receive their booster. If your card has been lost, you can request a new one from the DHHR. Initial series vaccinations remain available for free for all West Virginians ages 5 and older.
West Virginians interested in being vaccinated or having their children vaccinated are encouraged to visit Vaccinate.wv.gov or call the West Virginia Vaccine Info Line: 1-833-734-0965.
On Monday, Gov. Justice reported that there are now 15,490 active cases of COVID-19 and 1,070 COVID-related hospitalizations statewide. The cumulative percent positivity rate stands at 8.05%.
An updated breakdown of the West Virginia County Alert Map is as follows:
Red (30) | Orange (12) | Gold (8) | Yellow (4) | Green (1)
The Governor went on to announce that 275 West Virginia National Guard members have now been authorized to deploy to 34 medical facilities across the state as part of the WVNG’s mission to provide staffing support to West Virginia hospitals in the face of the current surge.
Gov. Justice continued to remind that the federal government is now offering three free N95 masks per American. The free masks are being made available at pharmacies and community health centers across West Virginia. The Governor also offered a reminder that the federal government continues to offer every household in America four free at-home COVID-19 tests. To get your free at-home COVID tests, visit COVIDtests.gov.
Finally Monday, Gov. Justice took time out of his remarks about COVID to report that, once again, West Virginia is trending toward another extremely positive month of revenue collections for January 2022.
“This state is really cooking,” Gov. Justice said. “As we continue to pump out good surplus numbers, it just enables us to bring even more goodness to West Virginia.”
The Governor added that he will announce the final numbers after the month officially comes to a close.
“Tune back in on Wednesday and I think you’ll see us announce another surplus in line with the unprecedented numbers we saw in December,” Gov. Justice said.
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