Justice touts boosters as vaccinated hospitalizations see rise
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WHEELING -- West Virginia saw fewer COVID deaths this week, but the number of those hospitalized with the virus who have been vaccinated is increasing, according to Gov. Jim Justice.
During a briefing with state media Friday morning, Justice read fewer names of those having died since Wednesday from COVID in West Virginia. But he and other state officials remained concerned about what the virus may bring in the coming weeks, and the possibility of another surge may be starting.
Justice encouraged the unvaccinated to get vaccinated and noted it is becoming important for people to get booster vaccinations.
West Virginia has dropped down to 72 percent of those hospitalized with COVID not being vaccinated, a sharp decrease from recent weeks when 90 percent of COVID patients hospitalized hadn't received COVID shots.
Now 28 percent of them have.
"How many of them do you think have not gotten their booster shot?" Justice asked. "I'll betcha' it's a bunch.
"How many are sitting there crazy wishing they had gotten their booster shot? Don't be them. Please, don't be them."
Justice announced there were 529 people hospitalized with COVID across West Virginia as of Friday morning. Of this number, 183 were in intensive care units and 91 on ventilators.
"It's hard to look at that and say it's better," Justice said. "It is somewhat better, but it's a long ways from being great."
State officials said hospitalizations, intensive care stays and people on ventilators "have plateaued" and indicated they could start increasing once again.
"While we have gotten through parts of the most recent surge of COVID 19, we are absolutely not out of the woods yet," said Dr. Clay Marsh, state COVID czar. "The reproductive value continues to go up, which isn't good news. That's the value that is pretty accurate in predicting more challenges for us."
James Hoyer, director of the state's joint interagency vaccine task force, said while West Virginia was very aggressive early on in getting those ages 65 and older vaccinated against COVID, data from the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration show immunities provided by the vaccines decrease over time.
Protections provided by the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines decrease after six months, while those provided by the Johnson and Johnson vaccine subside after just two months, he said.
West Virginia's transmission rate for COVID is increasing, and is trending upward as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches and people begin to travel and gather.
"We have to aggressively go after not just getting those unvaccinated vaccinated, but getting those boosters," Hoyer said.
Justice announced Friday that 18 people had died of COVID in West Virginia since Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID deaths in the state to 4,610.
He cautioned that cold weather is about to come, forcing people to be indoors and sometimes alongside groups of people.
"It could very well snap back the other way -- instead of it looking like it's getting better … it could get really tough," Justice said.