CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in the United States, Gov. Jim Justice and Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bill Crouch participated in a national briefing call with Vice President Mike Pence and officials with the Trump Administration on Monday.
Justice announced his administration will hold a roundtable meeting with medical experts from across West Virginia on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the State Capitol to provide updates from the state on what they have heard from Pence and to answer questions on the state’s preparedness for the potential community spread of COVID-19.
“For over a month, I’ve been meeting regularly with my administration, closely monitoring this disease and working on our plans to be proactive in our fight against it,” Justice said in a release.
“Now, with more cases emerging in America, we are additionally bringing together members of my administration, medical experts, and community leaders to make double sure we’re coordinated with our precautionary measures and to make triple sure we’re doing all we can to keep West Virginians safe.”
Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Chief Health Office Dr. Sherri Young hosted a meeting of Kanawha Valley health officials and leadership on Monday revolving around the outbreak. She said it’s becoming more of a reality that a case could be in West Virginia in the future.
Young spoke with reporters following the closed-door meeting on the subject of COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus Disease 2019.
“We’re still in the hopes that this is a containable virus, although as we see community spread throughout the western portion of the United States, those fears are becoming more of a reality,” she said.
“If we have more cases in more states, it’s a reality we could see a case here.”
As of mid-afternoon Monday, the Center for Disease and Control (CDC) confirmed six deaths in the United States and more than 3,000 globally from the outbreak that began in China.
Four of the six deaths have been in the state of Washington, where there is a state of emergency in multiple counties. According to the CDC’s latest numbers on its website, there are more than 40 current cases in the U.S. across 10 states.
Young said the group will meet in two weeks but other meetings may vary because of how fluid the situation is.
“One thing that we are seeing from the CDC and the recording for COVID-19 is there has been so much change,” Young said.
“There is change every day in the number of cases, change every day in the number of community spread. We anticipate that we are going to see more numbers in the coming weeks.”
The group consisted of officials from the Kanawha County School system, University of Charleston and from West Virginia State when it comes to the education sector. Young said the health department has urged those in schools across the Kanawha Valley to be cautious to prevent an outbreak.
Officials from the Kanawha County Commission, City of Charleston, Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, West Virginia State Police, Kanawha County Homeland Security, and hospital agencies were in attendance as well, working through current policies in place for outbreaks.
Young said the group will meet again in two weeks to work through different scenarios. The scenarios discussed on Monday were how to quarantine effectively, how to work with other agencies and what the county would do if this was to become a pandemic and see widespread dissemination.
“At this point, the discussion is about containment and keeping the public safe and trying not to get COVID-19 into our communities,” Young said. “However, we have to be prepared for every scenario going forward. To make sure that if we do see it, if it is an inevitability, that we can take care of everyone.”
For now, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department is advising any traveler to follow the current CDC guidelines. That includes ‘avoid warnings’ in mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, and South Korea.