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CHARLESTON -- State officials said Wednesday that a backlog in unemployment compensation applications due to coronavirus-related layoffs and furloughs could be cleared out by this morning if not sooner.
"It will be cleared out by tonight," said Gov. Jim Justice. "I know there are those of you who were frustrated. I was too."
Justice updated the press and public on the progress during his daily coronavirus briefing from the State Capitol Building in Charleston Wednesday.
Justice said that Workforce West Virginia, with the help of a call center set up by West Virginia and extra manpower and technical expertise by the West Virginia National Guard, was able to process 12,000 applications Tuesday. The National Guard also helped with improving the website and the ability to handle more claims.
"I tripled the amount of manpower. That wasn't enough, so we tripled it again," Justice said. "I can tell you...other states have had breakdowns like you can't imagine and lines like you can't imagine. At the end of the day, we had people at home really wondering how they were going to pay their power bill. I hope we're getting them paid and getting them all caught up. It pleases me that we'll have this backlog behind us."
According to Workforce West Virginia, more than 140,000 claims for unemployment compensation benefits have been received since March. Typically, the state receives between 3,000 and 5,000 unemployment compensation applications per month. According to the Department of Labor, more than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment since March, with 5.2 million applying last week.
Justice signed an executive order March 19 to allow workers who were separated from employment, had their hours cut, or were prevented from working due to chronic health issues that made them more susceptible to COVID-19 to apply for unemployment benefits to the fullest extent allowed until the end of the state of emergency. The order waived the one-week waiting period and various work requirements.
Benefits vary depending on wages in the base period, but the maximum payout is $424 per week and the minimum weekly payout is $24. The C.A.R.E.S. Act, the third coronavirus aid packaged passed by Congress March 27, provides an additional $600 in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation through July 25 for those receiving state unemployment compensation.
The $2 trillion C.A.R.E.S. Act also created the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program for the self-employed, part-time workers and those in the gig economy. PUA provides up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits for those who lost income starting Feb. 2 or the first week they were unable to work due to the coronavirus, whichever date is later. The last week they can be compensated is the week ending Dec. 26, 2020. Questions can be directed to 1-800-252-5627 or workforcewv.org.
The state has yet to open up the Workforce West Virginia website to accept applications for PUA, though Justice said it should be ready by Friday at 10 p.m. Workforce West Virginia will pay PUA claims retroactively.
"All of those will be able to go online...and that will be opened up for you guys and ladies to be able to move that forward," Justice said.
The Department of Health and Human Resources also announced Wednesday that they were offering a one-time special assistance payment through the Pandemic Diversionary Cash Assistance program. The amount of money is based on a family's need and number of children on low or no income. The program is open to anyone not receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Those interested are encouraged to reach out to their local DHHR office.
Also Wednesday, state officials said the testing of nursing home residents and staff for coronavirus continues. The goal is to test, and in some cases re-test more than 28,000 nursing home residents and staff at the state's 124 nursing homes. This doesn't include assisted living facilities or other senior living facilities, though state officials didn't rule testing those facilities out in the near future.
"Testing all of our (nursing home) facilities for patients and staff is step one," said state coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh. "We want to keep focusing on testing vulnerable populations...we have plans to extend our testing, and test quite extensively of at-risk and vulnerable populations."
Marsh said half of the deaths attributed to the coronavirus have come from nursing homes. According to the DHHR, 963 people have tested positive for the respiratory virus. There were three deaths reported to the DHHR Wednesday, bringing the total deaths to 29. The three most recent deaths were an 85-year old woman from Jackson County, an 85-year old woman from Kanawha County and a 69-year old woman from Barbour County.
"That really supports the idea that we need to test," Marsh said. "Up to 75 percent of people who can spread COVID are either pre-symptomatic, meaning they've never had symptoms, or they're pre-diagnosed. Understanding that is important."
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.