MORGANTOWN — Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday 70 health care facilities in West Virginia in 30 counties failed to report 168 COVID-19-related deaths in a timely fashion, which breached statewide protocol and skewed statewide statistics. He said it was mostly hospitals and nursing homes.
“This is totally unacceptable,” said Justice, adding he will honor the 168 people during his Friday COVID-19 press conference.
“Half of these are from hospitals. I just don’t get it,” the governor said during his Wednesday COVID press conference.
West Virginia Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad said the 168 deaths were discovered last Friday following a check of death certificates at the state Office of Vital Statistics. The deaths apparently took place in December and January and included two inmates who died while hospitalized. Plus, 30 of the deaths took place in Kanawha County.
“We are very disappointed,” Amjad said. “We have a list and will be reaching out to them. This isn’t just about data collection. This is extremely unacceptable.”
She blamed it on facilities not filling out death reports online to the state’s health department in a timely manner and said they are waiting to find out if there could be more unreported deaths.
In a statement released Wednesday, Jim Kaufman, president and CEO of the West Virginia Hospital Association, addressed the issue, saying, “It is unfortunate that this reporting error occurred during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in December and January. .. The process the State has put in place that led to today’s announcement demonstrates the close partnership between the state and hospitals in responding to this pandemic. Today’s announcement provides an important opportunity to ensure accurate reporting in the future.
“We thank our healthcare workers for their hard work and express sympathy to the families who have lost loved ones during the pandemic.”
Justice said he plans to get at the bottom of the matter, but did not elaborate.
“This is really awful,” he said. “I don’t know how we can just let this go. I hate this, and I am really sorry.”
It’s the second such discovery of dozens of unreported deaths in West Virginia during the pandemic.
In November, the Department of Health and Human Resources’ vital registration office flagged more than two dozen deaths that happened weeks or months before and had not been reported as coronavirus-related, Amjad said. COVID-19 deaths are supposed to be filled out on a separate form and reported to the state immediately.
“If that death report is not filled out, we don’t know about it,” Amjad said. “As you can imagine, it was a shock to us as well that those were not in our system.”
Last June, Justice demanded the resignation of Dr. Cathy Slemp, the previous state health officer, after he complained about discrepancies in the number of active virus cases and accused Slemp of not doing her job. He refused to elaborate.
Since Monday, another five people died from COVID-19-related causes, bringing West Virginia’s pandemic death toll to 2,330, with a daily positivity rate of 3.19%. Amjad said that number did not include the 168.
The state said there were 302 new cases of the virus, bringing the total number of active cases in West Virginia to 5,360. There are 483 active cases in Monongalia County.
The number of new cases statewide dropped for the 53rd straight day, but 178 people remain hospitalized with 54 in intensive care.
Justice said West Virginia received 27,000 vaccines so far this week. Overall, 219,306 people have been vaccinated, which would rank the state 12th in the world, he added.
Facilities and deaths
| Acuity Specialty Hospital | 3 |
| Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital | 2 |
| Berkeley Medical Center | 1 |
| Bowers Hospice House | 1 |
| Brightwood | 1 |
| C.A.M.C – Teays Valley | 6 |
| C.A.M.C. – General Division | 1 |
| C.A.M.C. – Memorial Division | 8 |
| Camden-Clark Medical Center Memorial Campus | 12 |
| Cameron Nursing and Rehab Center | 1 |
| Cedar Ridge Nursing Home | 1 |
| Continuous Care | 1 |
| Davis Medical Center | 2 |
| Decedent’s home | 25 |
| E A Hawse Nursing and Rehab | 3 |
| Eagle Pointe Nursing Home | 3 |
| Eldercare Health and Rehab | 1 |
| Elkins Rehabilitation and Care Center | 1 |
| Elmcroft of Teays Valley | 1 |
| Evergreen Assisted Living | 1 |
| Genesis Health Care Sistersville Center | 1 |
| Genesis of White Sulphur Springs Center | 2 |
| Grant Rehabilitation and Care Center | 1 |
| Greenbrier Valley Medical Center | 4 |
| Hospice House at CAMC | 1 |
| Hospice House of Huntington | 3 |
| Hospice of the Panhandle | 1 |
| Hubbard Hospice House | 2 |
| Hubbard Hospice House West | 3 |
| Madison Nursing and Rehab | 2 |
| Maples Nursing Home | 2 |
| Mercer Nursing Home | 1 |
| Mon Health Medical Center | 3 |
| Monongalia General Hospital | 1 |
| Ohio Valley Health Care | 1 |
| Pierpont Center at Fairmont Campus | 1 |
| Pine Ridge Health Care Center | 2 |
| Potomac Valley Hospital | 1 |
| Princeton Community Hospital | 2 |
| Raleigh General Hospital | 3 |
| Ravenswood Care Center | 1 |
| Reynolds Memorial Hospital | 5 |
| Ruby Memorial Hospital | 9 |
| Select Specialty Hospital | 3 |
| Sistersville Health Care Center | 1 |
| St. Francis Hospital | 1 |
| St. Mary’s Medical Center | 5 |
| Stonerise The Brier | 1 |
| Sweetbriar of Dunbar | 1 |
| The Stone Pear Pavilion | 1 |
| The Willows Center | 1 |
| The Wyngate | 1 |
| Thomas Memorial Hospital | 2 |
| Tygart Center | 2 |
| VA Medical Center | 1 |
| Valley Center | 1 |
| Veterans Hospital-Harrison County | 1 |
| Veterans Hospital-Wayne County | 1 |
| Wayne Nursing and Rehabilitation | 2 |
| Weirton Geriatric Center | 1 |
| Weirton Medical Center | 4 |
| Wheeling Hospital | 5 |
| Worthington Healthcare Center | 3 |
| WV Caring Hospice Center | 1 |
| Mount Olive Correctional Center | 2 |
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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