Camden Clark diverted patients due to impact of COVID

September 15, 2021

From staff reports PARKERSBURG — With more COVID-19 patients than at its peak in January, WVU Medicine Camden Clark was diverting patients Tuesday from the emergency room and hospital, although that ended Tuesday evening. The hospital declared a “mini-disaster alert” early Tuesday morning, according to a statement from President and CEO Steve Altmiller. “A mini-disaster alert is defined as notification from a hospital that a physical incapacitation of a necessary functional component of the hospital has occurred, making further patient care untenable,” he said. “Beginning ...

Fighting for Air: Testimonials from West Virginia families, doctors highlight seriousness of COVID-19

September 14, 2021

CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice and state COVID-19 response officials have spent the last few weeks preaching the same message on the need for vaccinations, but on Monday’s briefing they let a family member of a COVID patient and a doctor on the front lines do the speaking. During ...

Ohio hospital leaders urge cooperation to slow COVID spread

September 14, 2021

MARIETTA — The leaders of nine southeast Ohio hospitals and health systems released a joint letter Monday urging residents in Washington, Noble, Athens, Meigs and other counties to get vaccinated if eligible and wear masks to combat the spread of COVID-19. The letter, whose signers include Memorial Health System President and CEO J. Scott Cantley, said hospitals, emergency departments and urgent care centers in the region are experiencing record numbers and seeing a higher degree of illness than in the past. “This is taking a toll on our associates,” it said. “We are concerned ...

West Virginia officials attribute five Mid-Ohio Valley deaths to COVID

September 14, 2021

PARKERSBURG — The deaths of five Mid-Ohio Valley residents were attributed to COVID-19 on Monday in the latest virus update from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Three men from Wood County — ages 44, 57 and 75 — were listed among the 31 deaths since Friday’s update, along with a 71-year-old Jackson County woman and a 50-year-old Roane County man. The youngest people listed were a 26-year-old Fayette County woman and a 30-year-old Ohio County woman. The statewide death total since the pandemic’s start in the spring of 2020 is 3,238. “COVID-19 ...

West Virginia lawmakers weigh in on COVID mandate advisory opinion

September 13, 2021

CHARLESTON — As lawmakers gather in Charleston for regularly scheduled legislative interim meetings Sunday, an advisory opinion from Attorney General Patrick Morrisey regarding the legalities of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine passports was the talk of the town. Coming one day after ...

Justice: ICU beds could become scarce as COVID stretches hospital resources

September 11, 2021

CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice warned during Friday’s COVID-19 briefing that, as hospital beds fill up and health care resources are stretched thinner and thinner, “there will be ICU patients that will not have a bed.” It’s already happened at least once. During the briefing, James ...