Hoyer: 350 West Virginia National Guard could be needed at hospitals

“By the end of this day, we will probably have about 200 Guard assignments for individual Guardsmen,” he said Friday. “The men and women of the Guard are more than happy to support those front-line health care workers, just like they’ve supported those front-line public health workers throughout this pandemic.”

Gov. Jim Justice directed members of the task force to conduct a tabletop exercise at the beginning of December focused on what could be done to eliminate strains on the state’s hospitals.

“At that point, we had projected that with the hospitals, the potential need (was) for about 350 Guardsmen,” Hoyer said. “There is an additional effort going on with training with Guard personnel right now.”

The 200 Guard members who were expected to be assigned to hospital duty by the end of Friday will fill various non-clinical roles at hospitals throughout the state that have put in official requests, Hoyer said.

“They range everything from people who might provide screening support at the entry points to hospitals to helping with logistics support, help moving patients and a variety of other things designed to give the opportunity for health care professionals to spend more time focused on patient care,” he said.

More than 1,000 health care workers statewide were not on the job due to COVID-19 “restrictions” as of Friday, Hoyer said.

“Right now we believe the 350 (Guard members) will work, but as always, the Guard is flexible, adaptable and agile and we’ll work with that and other partners,” he said.

There were 980 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 statewide as of Friday, including 228 patients in ICU units and 131 patients on ventilators. There were 17 pediatric COVID-19 patients hospitalized, including one pediatric patient in an ICU unit, according to information from the State Department of Health and Human Resources.

Modeling from the University of Washington shows West Virginia’s hospital resource usage is projected to peak on Feb. 4, when 2,162 hospital beds will be needed, including 618 ICU beds.

Also on Friday, the DHHR reported there were 16,742 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There were 19 additional deaths reported since the last report, with a total of 5,609 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of 77-year old male from Raleigh County, a 76-year old female from Raleigh County, a 94-year old male from Barbour County, a 76-year old female from Marion County, a 61-year old female from Kanawha County, a 76-year old female from Preston County, an 85-year old female from Kanawha County, an 80-year old female from Calhoun County, a 61-year old female from Berkeley County, a 76-year old male from Kanawha County, a 91-year old female from Monongalia County, a 66-year old male from Greenbrier County, a 53-year old female from Barbour County, an 86-year old female from Kanawha County, a 70-year old male from Boone County, an 87-year old female from Marion County, an 84-year old female from Berkeley County, a 55-year old female from Berkeley County, and a 79-year old male from Hancock County.

“Every loss in West Virginia brings grief to a family,” said DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch. “As we comfort those who mourn, we must also do our best to stop this deadly virus by choosing to be vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.”

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, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965.