4/6 Morning Briefing

Morning Briefing 4/6/2020

We are still under the National State of Emergency

Gov. Jim Justice’s “Stay At Home” order issued on March 23, 2020, is still in effect. It directs all West Virginia residents to stay at home and limit movements outside of their homes beyond essential needs. Non-essential Businesses and operations must temporarily cease operations.

Cases of COVID 19 in West Virginia

HERE for the county by county Breakdown

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) is the official reporting agency for COVID-19, which in turn provides official case numbers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Medical providers and laboratories are required to report positive test results to DHHR. The data in the daily reports include all known positive cases but underreports the total number of individuals tested as not all laboratories are able to electronically submit negative test results.

Where can I get a test? Please note that this is not a comprehensive list; there may be more testing sites out there that are added daily. – Source Senator Joe Manchin

Click here to view the list of current sites.

Gov. Justice continues to encourage all West Virginians to follow the guidelines presented by President Donald J. Trump to avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people.

For more information about COVID-19 prevention and more, call the State’s toll-free hotline at 1-800-887-4304 or visit Coronavirus.wv.gov.

Dream Center distribution/Fishes and Loaves

An emergency drive-thru food distribution this Tuesday from 1-3 at Fishes and Loaves for those who pre-registered and those who need food. We encourage those who are a part of our senior program to come and get their box of food. No will be signing or getting out of their car.

CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced tonight at 9:45 p.m. that he has signed an Executive Order for Monongalia, Harrison, and Kanawha counties as COVID-19 continues to spread. This Executive Order expands the order issued last evening for Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan counties.

“Right now, 38% of the COVID-19 positive cases in West Virginia are in these three counties,” Gov. Justice said. “If you add in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan counties, its 62% of all the positive cases in our state.

“I have been monitoring this situation all day and decided to take this action tonight after my medical experts advised me that these counties are the next areas where community clusters may soon develop. The additional measures I took yesterday for the Eastern Panhandle need to be applied to these counties as well. Today, we had reports of crowds at stores with the nice spring weather, but to stop the spread of COVID-19 we MUST stay at home as much as possible and we MUST remember to socially distance when we go out for necessities. The stay-at-home order and the guidelines by our medical experts need to be taken very seriously at this time.

“Again, I am going to continue to do everything in my power to protect the health and safety of all West Virginians.”

The Order expands to Monongalia, Harrison, and Kanawha counties and gives broad authority to their local health departments.

Provisions of the Executive Order include:

Limiting groups to a maximum of 5 people.
Directing ALL businesses to require employees to work from home to the maximum extent possible.
Directing the Local Health Departments to establish the maximum occupancy of and proper social distance within essential businesses and taking action to enforce these health regulations.
Directing the West Virginia National Guard to provide logistical support and services to assist county agencies.
Directing the West Virginia State Police to assist with enforcement of local county orders.

The Governor has directed his medical experts to continue to work with local health departments throughout West Virginia to ensure each county has the tools they need to best respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Justice also announced that he will secure additional resources to assist Workforce West Virginia with processing unemployment claims due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning April 6th, the Workforce West Virginia call line will operate 24/7 and the West Virginia National Guard will provide staff members to get the backlog of calls under control.

Gov. Justice expressed the importance of silencing rumors as the state continues to battle COVID-19. With many false reports circulating on social media, he wanted to clarify the following:

The West Virginia State Police are NOT stopping traffic at state borders.
The State Police are NOT pulling over vehicles just because they have out-of-state plates. The West Virginia National Guard is NOT being used to enforce a lockdown. There is NO curfew and there is NO national quarantine.