Elkins Officials Join White House COVID-19 Briefing
March 18, 2020
1430
At 1 p.m. today, Elkins officials joined a White House COVID-19 Briefing Call, which included presentations by Vice President Mike Pence and representatives of the CDC, FEMA, DHHS, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare, Homeland Security, USDA, the Department of Education, and other key agencies involved in the nation’s coronavirus (COVID-19) response.
Speakers made certain key points worth calling out here.
First, research and experience continue to show that coronavirus is most dangerous for the elderly and those with other underlying health conditions. Nonetheless, all of us have a role to play in helping these vulnerable populations avoid infection. Please review this page on the CDC’s website for more information about how we can all help protect our most vulnerable friends, family, and neighbors.
To further protect vulnerable populations, the federal government strongly recommends that nursing homes use only essential staff and screen the health of those staff members proactively. Other steps being taken include expanded access to telehealth options for Medicare recipients.
The federal government also strongly recommends that all healthcare providers reduce or suspend non-essential procedures, in order to preserve personal protective equipment (PPE) for coronavirus response.
Officials were also advised that the capacity for testing for coronavirus is expanding rapidly. As a result, over the next weeks, this expanded capacity will find many additional cases. This will not indicate an increasing pace of infections. Instead, it will simply mean that a backlog of samples are being analyzed more quickly.
Efforts are underway to release new, self-service tests for coronavirus. These new test options are still in development and not ready to release yet.
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Contact: Sutton Stokes
City of Elkins External Affairs
Phone: 304-636-1414, ext. 1212
Email: sstokes@cityofelkinswv.com
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