CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Dr. Sherri Young, the executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, is urging caution following another large weekend increase of COVID-19 cases in the county and around the state.
She told 580-WCHS that after adding 307 cases over the weekend and 124 cases from Sunday to Monday, this could be the push of cases that overruns and overstrains area healthcare services. She credits the rise from the Thanksgiving holiday and expects the increase to continue for ‘days to weeks.’
“What we are seeing in our contact tracing is that five, six or seven people in the same family are testing positive. It does confirm what we had feared that people would get together for Thanksgiving in larger groups than they needed to,” Young said.
With additional holidays coming up, Young said there is no magic number for the amount of people in gatherings but recommended to hold parties and activities with only those in the immediate household.
“People need to be very careful going out in the communities but still every additional person adds an additional risk factor for spreading COVID into that group,” she said.
On Monday, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department confirmed 124 additional cases of COVID-19 in the county. There are now 1,384 active cases. One additional death was reported, an 86-year old male, bringing the count death total to 151.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) confirmed 1,131 new cases in the state Monday as the state’s daily positivity test rate topped 7.2%.
Gov. Jim Justice was questioned during his coronavirus press briefing on if he would be inclined to order another statewide shutdown. He said he was not. Young said another shutdown would ‘definitely decrease cases’ but there would be other consequences.
Young said citizens need to be responsible.
“If we are not going to shut down, then we need to make other means available to make other people safe. That’s to make sure testing is available, make sure everybody is wearing masks,” she said.
Young noted there is one drive-thru testing event on Thursday being put on by the county. The health department is open daily 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for testing in a clinical setting. It’s by appointment only.
Story by Jake Flatley