March 22, 2020

Honorable James C. Justice, ll,
Governor of the State of West Virginia
Office of the Governor

1900 Kanawha Blvd, East
Charleston, WV 25303

RE: Ordering a State Wide Stay-in-Place

Dear Governor Justice:

The Kanawha Charleston Health Department, the City of Charleston, and the
Kanawha County Commission write to you concerning the COVID-19 virus that is
spreading across our nation and our state. As you clearly stated in your 7:00pm address
yesterday, our power to fight this pandemic is to stay away from one another and to limit
person to person contact as much as possible. To that end, we respectfully ask you to
reconsider your current decision and order a mandatory stay?in-place for the state of West
Virginia.

As of today, 1 in 4 Americans are operating under a stay-in-place order. It is the
opinion of the health professionals at the Kanawha Charleston Health Department that a
stay?in-place order is a necessary measure that will slow the spread of this highly
communicable virus and ?flatten the curve.? As we have learned from Italy and now, New
York, spreads rapidly quickly overwhelming the ability of first responders
and hospital systems to care for and treat patients. In West Virginia, COVID-19 poses an
even greater threat because so many of our citizens are elderly and living with pre-existing
conditions. In Kanawha County, we are already running short on critical resources used
by our first responders and health care workers including personal protective equipment.
A state mandated stay-in-place order would provide valuable time for our health care
system to prepare for the inevitable spike in the number of infected patients.
We currently have 4 positive tests at CAMC Hospital, with 221 pending results, we are
now the epicenter of the State of West Virginia.

As has been the case in other states, a stay-in?place order could allow for all life
sustaining services and business to continue to operate, including all health care
operations, grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants serving take out, gas

stations, pharmacies, financial institutions, and all other businesses that offer vital and
essential services.

For these reasons, we urge you to consider directing our residents to stay-in-place
and, further, that your office advise local boards of health and emergency management
operations of any plans to implement the same, prior to any announcement in a public
address. 

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.

Sincerely,
Me Carper :my Shuler Goodwin
President, Kanawha County Commission Mayor, City of Charleston

A

en Salango Henry Shores

Commissioner Commissioner
Kanawha County Commission Kanawha County
Commission