Nursing homes, assisted living communities and hospitals will receive staffing and financial help to keep their workforce levels up under the Saving Our Care initiative announced by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) last week.
The initiative will include a statewide monitoring system for all long-term care facilities and hospitals, according to a press release.
“We’ve got the dollars available,” Justice said. “And if we get to the point where we have exhausted those dollars, we’ll surely call the legislature back in and get approval to do even more.”
The governor’s news comes as, for the first time in two-and-a-half months, the Mountain State has seen a significant decline in the number of active cases of COVID-19 statewide. Justice said he hopes the initiative will only need to be in place for the next three to six weeks, assuming case counts continue to head in this direction.
“We just drifted down over the weekend. It is showing us every sign that we’re passing the peak of this surge,” he said. “We’re not through this yet. But nevertheless, we’ll take it.”
