West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Thursday announced how the state will spend its remaining millions from the CARES Act, with initiatives spanning from education to facilities to the workforce.
Justice announced a number of initiatives — listed below — but was short on details, saying more information would come at a later date.
For now, the programs receiving funding are:
- $22 million for a workforce program to incentivize people to rejoin the workforce and keep long term employment.
$10 million for an emergency crisis management fund to support first responders in the state.
$1.75 million split between Huntington City Mission, Union Mission Charleston, Martinsburg Union Rescue Mission, Bluefield Union Mission, Clarksburg Mission, The West Virginia Rescue Ministries and Hurricane’s Faith Mission Homeless Shelter. Each agency will receive $250,000.
- $7.25 million to state food pantries and shelters for people experiencing homelessness.
$6 million to the Beckley Salvation Army to “expand their services and provide programs.”
- $15 million for state agencies to cover unexpected expenses related to COVID-19.
- $3 million to help West Virginia University expand remote work options.
- $500,000 to Shepherd University for its light therapy pain management program.
$2 million for Game Changers, a school-based program meant to prevent substance use disorder in students and educate them on the disease.
$1.3 million to fund the “Do it for Baby Dog” vaccine lotteries.
- $2.7 million for the Department of Health and Human Resources to cover ongoing expenses from their pandemic response.
The announcements Thursday followed a $48 million announcement Tuesday, which Justice said will go to expanding the state’s nursing workforce through expanded training programs and other incentives.
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Justice made his announcements for the CARES Act money during his last COVID-19 press briefing before Christmas. He had one clear message for those listening: “You have got to get your booster shot.”
The state’s active COVID-19 cases jumped back over 9,000 on Thursday, to 9,285 – 558 more than Wednesday, per the Department of Health and Human Resources’ coronavirus dashboard. Of those cases, 1,495 were reported overnight.
To date, 5,251 West Virginians have died from COVID-19, with nine of those reported Thursday.
As of Thursday, 580 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in West Virginia, with 203 in an intensive care unit and 103 receiving care on a ventilator. Per the dashboard, more than 80% of those patients are not vaccinated. That increases to 87% for people in the ICU and 86% for those on a ventilator.
About 53% of eligible residents in the state — 915,349 of them — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Of those residents, 33% — 304,179 individuals — have received a booster dose, per the dashboard.
Booster doses are recommended for anyone 16 and older who previously received their full round of mRNA vaccines six months ago, or the Johnson & Johnson one-shot two months ago.
This week, the omicron COVID-19 variant became the nation’s dominant virus strain, but its presence is allegedly still minimal in West Virginia, said state coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh.
In coming weeks, however, Marsh said that could change.
State health officials — including health officer Dr. Ayne Amjad and DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch — said West Virginia is looking at strategies to help lessen the impact of another COVID-19 surge in the state.
Amjad said COVID-19 testing sites could be coming to school settings to protect teachers and students.
A drug approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration this week to treat COVID-19 — the first of its kind — could also help stop more deaths and severe illness in people who are infected with COVID-19.
The drug Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer, will be in limited supply for some time, Marsh said.
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