CHARLESTON — Although the tax cut proposals and anti-abortion bill before the Legislature dominated much of the discussion, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s online briefing touched on a variety of other topics Tuesday.

* Justice announced he was declaring a state of preparedness for all 55 counties due to the threat of flash flooding from heavy downpours or steady rain.

“Three to five inches of rain coming down off our mountains and coming down really fast and everything can cause real problems,” he said.

Justice directed the West Virginia Emergency Management Division to prepare appropriate resources to respond to emergencies that may develop. Residents are asked to be aware of weather conditions through local media reports and follow instructions from emergency officials.

* The state’s second case of monkeypox was detected in an individual tested by the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said Dr. Ayne Amjad, commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health.

“The threat to West Virginians from monkeypox is low,” Amjad said. “There is a vaccine that’s available, however it’s in short supply at this time.”

The vaccine is available to anyone who is a close contact of someone who tests positive for monkeypox, she said.

Symptoms of monkeypox can include a rash that looks like pimples or blisters on the face, inside the mouth and on other parts of the body, like the hands, feet, chest, genitals or anus; as well as fever, headache, muscle and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion. It is spread by direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs or body fluids; respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face or intimate physical contact; and touching items like clothing or linens that previously touched the infectious rash or body fluids.

* Chief Technology Officer Joshua Spence provided an update on the mainframe outage that began last week and affected services provided by many agencies, particularly the Department of Motor Vehicles. The hardware failure has been repaired, but software repairs must now be made, which Spence said are on track to be done by Thursday.

A workaround was announced Tuesday afternoon that allows the agency to resume processing commercial driver’s licenses, standard licenses, instruction permits and license reinstatements.

Justice announced the resignation of Betsy Jividen as commissioner of the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation effective Aug. 5. Justice appointed Jividen, a veteran federal prosecutor, to the job in January 2018. He said she has worked hard to help inmates recover from drug addiction and reduce repeat offenses.

“It’s a big position, and she has done a wonderful job,” Justice said.

* The governor announced that approximately 10,000 people have checked in online at sites highlighted by the statewide Waterfall Trail the Division of Tourism introduced last month.

“All this does is draw more and more and more folks to West Virginia,” Justice said.

* The governor and other officials also continued to encourage people to get vaccinated or boosted against COVID-19, as the highly infectious BA.5 variant continues to spread. Although they do not prevent infection 100%, the vaccines do lessen the chance of having serious complications from the virus, they said.