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W.Va. changing contact tracing guidelines

Contributed West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice speaks during Friday’s COVID-19 briefing from the Capitol.

CHARLESTON — Climbing COVID-19 infections are prompting a change in the way West Virginia health officials conduct contact tracing, the state’s public health commissioner said Friday.

“West Virginia is experiencing high rates of community COVID transmissions and as a result it is putting strained resources on the health departments for contact tracing and case investigation,” Dr. Ayne Amjad said during Gov. Jim Justice’s online COVID-19 briefing. “Because of this we are going to start having our health departments only contact you if you’re COVID positive.”

Individuals who test positive and family members who live with them will be contacted, but no one outside those categories. Those who test positive should “notify your co-workers and anyone you’ve come into close contact with in the last few days,” Amjad said.

West Virginia had 19,397 active cases of the virus, according to Friday’s COVID-19 dashboard, with more than 2,000 cases added since Thursday. The daily percentage of positive tests was nearly 11 percent. An additional 18 deaths were attributed to the virus since Wednesday’s briefing.

Anyone within 6 feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more in a 24-hour period in the two days before symptoms began or the COVID test is considered a close contact, according to a guidance document posted online by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

Close contacts should quarantine for 14 days since last seeing an infected individual. That period can be shortened to 10 days without testing or seven days after receiving a negative test result. The test should be taken on the fifth day or later after potential exposure.

Fully vaccinated individuals do not need to quarantine but should still get tested three to five days after their last exposure and wear a mask in indoor public settings until they receive a negative result, the guidance says.

Health departments aren’t the only facilities feeling the strain of rising virus numbers.

There were 714 people hospitalized as of Thursday, the most recent day for which statistics were provided on the COVID dashboard. That’s 86 percent of the highest amount of COVID hospitalizations during the last surge, and that peak took 177 days to reach, said James A. Hoyer, director of the state’s Joint Interagency Task Force.

“The bottom line, West Virginia, is people are going to the hospital faster, they’re sicker, and they’re younger,” Hoyer said.

There were 206 people in intensive care units because of COVID on Thursday, 13 shy of the high on Jan. 6. The previous high of ICU patients on ventilators was passed earlier this week and climbed to 111 Thursday.

Hoyer said the state is working with the West Virginia Hospital Association to monitor concerns related to capacity, staffing and equipment. The best way to address the situation, he said, is to get vaccinated.

“There is totally nothing in your life as important as getting vaccinated right now,” Justice said.

The governor noted 30 of the state’s 55 county school systems have required mask wearing, but he said he still did not feel it was appropriate to issue such a mandate statewide.

“We really believe that additional local wisdom is really better than what we can do in Charleston with additional mandates,” Justice said, while adding that he won’t shy away from making tough decisions. “The decision that I think is in the best interest of all of us today is still leave it to local control as much

as possible.”

Justice said he and his wife tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday, but a member of his security detail recently tested positive, despite having received a third dose of the vaccine.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended additional doses for moderately to severely immuocompromised people. A spokesman for the governor’s office said he could not provide health information about a specific individual.

Justice said during the briefing that he continues to ask the federal government to allow West Virginia to begin administering third doses ahead of a planned Sept. 20 date for such authorization.

(Bevins can be contacted at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com)

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