Threat Preparedness News and Alerts

PRESS RELEASE
April 29, 2020
Contact Information:
Jefferson County Health Department
304 728-8416
Email: JeffersonLHD@wv.gov

COVID-19 is a highly transmissible virus.  Common symptoms of the virus are cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches, chills and sometimes diarrhea or loss of sense of smell or taste. Some people are infected but feel normal and never develop symptoms. It is difficult to determine who can transmit an infection since an infected person might be able to infect someone else even 2 days before they first develop symptoms of the virus.

Each time a person leaves their home and interacts with other people they increase the chance that they will become infected.  There is currently some discussion about slowly resuming many activities.  Although we all hope that the coronavirus causing COVID-19 illness may be spreading less rapidly, more people in our communities are developing COVID-19.  During the coming months we will each personally know people who are infected and some people who become seriously ill or die from this virus.

All individuals are susceptible to this virus. Avoid crowded places where you would likely have an increased risk of exposure to an infected person.  Some people are not aware where they may have been exposed to the virus but other times people can identify that they had contact with a person known to be infected by COVID-19.  Sometimes these infected contacts are family members, personal acquaintances or are contacts in a place of business. When a person is identified with COVID-19 infection the Health Department speaks to the person and tries to identify and notify others with whom they may have been in contact. When a location is identified as a possible place where several people may have transmitted the infection the Health Department will evaluate the location and recommend as needed further testing, cleaning and sanitizing the location, changing business practices or other actions to minimize the risk to public health.

Sometimes people who may have been closely exposed to an infected person will be advised to isolate themselves and they may be recommended to have a test for the virus.  In order to minimize privacy concerns, the Health Department will typically not publicly disclose names or specific locations of infected people, especially where the risk to public health has been minimized.

We should all be compassionate and thankful that the workers in all essential businesses are willing to continue to provide service to the public.  Essential business workers, like many others who serve the public, are at increased risk of developing COVID-19. If a person interacts with many people each day their risk of developing or transmitting this potentially deadly disease increases.

Although current research indicates that the virus that causes COVID-19 is not likely to be transmitted in food, food service workers are at similar risk as other essential business workers and should maintain social distancing, hand washing, sanitization, and other precautions when interacting with each other and the public. 

Wear a mask, keep your distance, have the minimal number of people involved and only shop when necessary. This will decrease the risk that you will transmit or receive COVID-19.

Governor Justice has made available additional guidance for businesses as part of the “West Virginia Strong – The Comeback” Plan.

https://coronavirus.wvgovstatus.com/2020.04.28%20Small%20Business%20Guidelines.pdf

https://coronavirus.wvgovstatus.com/2020.04.28%20Restaurant%20Guidelines.pdf

https://coronavirus.wvgovstatus.com/2020.04.28%20ReligiousGuidelines.pdf

https://governor.wv.gov/Pages/The-Comeback.aspx

During yesterday’s press briefing, Governor Jim Justice unveiled his plan for gradually re-opening businesses over the next few weeks. The plan is now available to view or download here: https://governor.wv.gov/Pages/The-Comeback.aspx

This is a flexible plan that can be slowed down or paused if cases of COVID-19 begin increasing again. More detailed guidance for different types of businesses will be available in the near future. For now, West Virginians should continue to practice physical distancing, wear cloth face coverings in public where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, follow the statewide Stay at Home Order until it is lifted, and continue to telework when possible.

Thank you all for your patience, cooperation, and community spirit. Stay strong, Jefferson County – we will get through this together!

A Statewide Emergency Rule was filed and went into effect yesterday, April 16, 2020. This rule will replace the Jefferson County Board of Health Order of April 5, 2020. Because so many counties were directed to implement their own Orders and they were not consistent with other counties, the State implemented a Statewide rule to replace any conflicting County Orders. You can view the order online here: http://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/csr/ruleview.aspx?document=17200&KeyWord=

The changes from Jefferson County’s Order are highlighted in the document below. There are several new requirements for essential businesses that choose to remain open. Changes include implementing a written plan to limit on-site staff to only essential personnel. For staff that is exposed to the general public, you must provide a barrier between them and the public.

For the maximum people per square feet there are a few differences:

• One difference is the square footage is based on customer floor space (the amount of floor space that is open to the public in the business).
• Another difference is in most cases the maximum number of individuals per square foot only applies to the public and not to employees. The exception is that “businesses of less than 1,000 square feet of customer floor space shall not permit that space to be occupied by more than five persons, including employees, at any given time.”
• For businesses whose sales are comprised of at least 80 percent grocery food products, no more than three (3) members of the public may enter a business per 1,000 square feet of customer floor space at any given time.
• For all other essential businesses that remain open to the public, no more than two (2) members of the public may enter a business per 1,000 square feet of customer floor space at any given time.

Please read the rule completely as there are other changes not summarized here, including the requirement to prominently display the directives required in Section 3.3 of the rule at all entrances to the public.  Hotels, Motels, Bed and Breakfasts, and Air BnBs must follow the guidelines in this document and the Executive Order that is mentioned and linked to the document: https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/Documents/COVID-19-Guidance-For-Hotels-Motels-and-Other-Lodging-Facilities.pdf

The document below contains amendments and additions to the Jefferson County WV Board of Health Order of April 5, 2020.

Our staff is continuing to work on specific and detailed guidance related to this public health order. The order was a “broad strokes” document that was put together very quickly due to the urgency of the developments in the Eastern Panhandle. We thank you for your patience while we work on the finer details of the best ways to protect our community.