The Covid Czar of West Virginia is worried not just about Mountain State residents but the entire population of the United States.
That’s because records are being set, vaccination percentages are waning nationwide, and a virus variant has proved far more infectious than the original strain of Covid-19.
President Joe Biden issued a number of different vaccination mandates on Thursday, including one for federal employees and another for American companies with more than 100 employees. Republican members of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have threatened to challenge the executive orders.
Dr. Clay Marsh, who was appointed to his statewide position more than a year ago, was a guest this week on “Steve Novotney Lives,” and he expressed concern with the current surge and the West Virginians who have refused the free immunizations. Nearly 60 percent of the residents of Ohio County are fully vaccinated, but in Marshall County, only 43 percent have received their two doses.
“Right now, 95 percent of the counties in the United States are in high transmission areas. This pandemic is not just something that is impacting all of West Virginia; I believe this whole country right now is basically on fire, and it’s a fast-moving fire, too,” Dr. Marsh explained. “That’s why I see it become super important for us in West Virginia to make sure that as much as possible we continue communicating to our residents about the importance of being fully vaccinated.
“The people who are unvaccinated today are in danger, so I hope they realize that,” he continued. “We are also advising the people who are fully vaccinated to continue taking precautions because this is a critical moment for us here in West Virginia. As far as our hospitals are concerned, we have not been this challenged at any point of this pandemic than what we are now. There are more people in ICU units right now than ever before, and we have more people on ventilators than ever before, and we are far from the end of this surge.”
The number of associated deaths has grown rapidly, as well, during the past four weeks.
“As of today, we have had 61 West Virginians die from Covid this week, so we are seeing the severe effects involved with being infected with the Delta variant,” Marsha explained. “The vast majority of those deaths involved people who were not vaccinated yet.
“I really don’t think there is such a thing as herd immunity in a functional way, and that’s because that term really is one used for animals when an illness strikes a farm,” he said. “This virus is adapting so rapidly that you can’t deal with it at a rate to where it’s not advancing. Plus, we know the vaccines lose potency over time, so we may never reach a point where we can stop it. We need at least 85 percent of all people in the world to be sufficiently protected to make the infections stop advancing. Right now, the virus has the survival advantage.”
To Mask or Not to Mask
Members of the Marshall Board of Education voted unanimously this week to mandate staff and students to begin wearing masks on Monday when inside school buildings. Administrators for Ohio County Schools were forced to cancel Wheeling Park High’s football game against Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph in accordance with Covid protocols, and Magnolia High School in Wetzel County will close until Sept. 19.
Dr. Marsh said that while those decisions are up to local officials, he is hopeful those individuals are aware of the veracity of the Delta variant and of the impact the virus is having in the state’s 55 counties. The Ohio County Board of Education voted 4-1 in late August to make face coverings optional for students and staff.
“When it comes to those decisions, I would defer that question to the local officials making those decisions for each county, but we do know the mask plays an important part when it comes to mitigation of the virus,” he said. “We know because of the highly infectious nature of the Delta variant that masks are less reliable because of the advantage the Delta has right now. But we do know the more people who wear masks, the better off we will be.
“The masks do reduce the concentration of Covid-19 as far as the droplets and aerosol spray that we produce when we speak to one another,” Dr. Marsh continued. “But if there is only one person wearing a mask, and 10 others are not, that one individual still runs the risk of getting infected by the high concentration of the droplets that increase the chance for infection.”
How Much Longer?
Once vaccinations began for the public in January, the number of positive cases and associated deaths declined to the point that Gov. Justice removed limitations on businesses, fairs, and festivals as far as attendance, masks, and social distancing.
But at the beginning of August, though, the Delta variant had been detected in most Mountain State counties and the statistics quickly turned grim.
The solution?
“It is simple. For people to no longer be threatened by this virus, we need more people to be immunized so we can slow this thing down, but that’s likely not going to happen for a while,” Dr. Marsh warned. “Ultimately, I am very worried that the Covid virus and its variants are going to continue to be problems for us for a while before it slows down. At least I hope it slows down.
“If it does slow down, we may be able to contain it more easily, but until then it is going to be impacting populations of people where the rate of vaccination rates are very low. We have many areas like that here in West Virginia,” he reported. “That’s what we have seen so far all throughout this country, and those numbers do not lie.”
