Justice Remains Steadfast on Vaccinations Being Only Weapon, Statewide Mandates Not Necessary
By Chris Johnson on September 13, 2021
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice pleaded once again during Monday's COVID-19 response press conference for the state's unvaccinated population to get vaccinated while also remaining steadfast in his opinion that statewide mandates for masks or vaccinations isn't necessary.
"I've said it time and time again, I'm against any kind of mandate," Justice said. "Our only weapon against this is to get vaccinated. It's your choice but if it was me, I'd be running over somebody to go get vaccinated."
The governor's message is one that hasn't changed much during the past couple of weeks, yet all the COVID-19 statistics continue to move in the wrong direction.
Justice began the briefing by offering his condolences to the families of the 31 most recent COVID-related deaths. The state's cumulative total is now at 3,238.
The DHHR was experiencing technical difficulties in updating the dashboard Monday morning but Justice was provided with the most recent data which includes 867 hospitalizations, 267 patients in ICUs and 164 patients on ventilators. All three numbers are all-time highs for the state during the course of the pandemic.
"The first week of July, we had 52 hospitalizations," the state's coronavirus czar, Dr. Clay Marsh said. "An overwhelming amount of hospitalizations are unvaccinated."
There have been 1,417 new cases reported during the previous 24 hours. The state's daily percent positive rate is at 12.12 percent and the state's cumulative percent positive rate is at 5.52.
The number of active cases is at 27,607.
There are 89 school outbreaks in 33 different counties. There are 77 outbreaks in long-term care facilities. Church outbreaks are at three in three different counties and there are currently 164 inmates in 11 different state correctional facilities and 45 among staff.
Video of Monday's press conference can be viewed below.
