CHARLESTON – Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango says he is optimistic about actions taken to stop the spread of the Coronavirus at the Kanawha County Judicial Annex.
A seventh employee has tested positive, and one spouse of an employee also has tested positive. Salango said he couldn’t provide more specifics about the employees – such as what floors they work on their departments – because of HIPAA laws.
On April 2, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department announced 30 Judicial Annex employees had tested negative for the Coronavirus.
Salango
The seventh case was confirmed April 1. Salango told The West Virginia Record that officials learned of the case late March 31, but the worker does not live in Kanawha County, so officials weren't able to confirm the positive test result until Wednesday morning.
"The employee is doing well and has been self-quarantining," Salango said. "We have pinpointed the exposure for this case to March 19 or before."
Still, Salango did say he thinks moves by county and state Supreme Court leaders to close down and clean the building have worked.
“It appears our efforts were successful,” Salango told The Record. “There is no evidence thus far that shows it has spread (among other workers) after we limited access to the Judicial Annex on March 20.
“We are pleased we don’t have any evidence of any more people from the Judicial Annex testing positive for having been exposed after March 20. That’s the last date that any employee who has tested positive was in the building.
“We think our actions have substantially cut down the number of people at risk.”
The Kanawha County Commission, at the direction of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, ordered the closure of the Judicial Annex effective 8 a.m. March 25. It is closed at least until April 6, which also is the date when Judicial Annex employees are supposed to end self-quarantines.
“We’ve had the building professionally cleaned, and we are working with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to determine exactly when it will reopen,” Salango said.
Officials previously had said three of the four employees worked on the same floor, officials said. But no further such information has been made public.
“Entry to the building shall only be allowed by the Sheriff of Kanawha County under the direction of Chief Health Officer of the County,” the notice stated.
Still, some Judicial Annex employees say they were told too little too late. But Salango said he and other Kanawha County officials worked as quickly as they could to get the word out to everyone.
“We found out late Friday (March 20), around 8:30 p.m. that an employee may have Coronavirus,” said Salango, who also is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. “Remember, most people who work at the Judicial Annex are employees of the West Virginia Supreme Court and not the county. We were told this first person had traveled and had a fever and was hospitalized in Putnam County.
“(Kanawha County Commission President Kent) Carper immediately notified the West Virginia Supreme Court that there was a potential exposure.”
Salango said officials were told the test results would be ready at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 21. They weren’t. They weren’t ready at 10 a.m. either. Then, they learned the state lab was closing at 11 a.m. The test results weren’t ready by then.
“So when 11 a.m. came and went, we decided to restrict access to the Judicial Annex,” Salango said. That order was entered at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department starting doing contact trace information then even though we didn’t have a positive test yet. They did it in case the person came back positive. And remember, an overwhelming majority of tests are coming back negative, but we had a high degree of suspicion the first person would come back positive.”
Salango said he and Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin had the press conference March 21 to demand the state lab stay open around the clock.
“But, we already had restricted access to the Judicial Annex, and we had a cleaning crew in there sanitizing everything even before we had the first positive result back,” he said. “Shortly after the press conference, we received word they had processed the test and the result was positive. So then, the health department started notifying individuals the person had been in contact with.”
He said county officials did as much as they could to help despite the employee being a Supreme Court employee, which meant there were HIPAA issues.
“We were doing everything we could as a county commission and the mayor to get test results back,” Salango said. “But, we had notified the West Virginia Supreme Court and all of the judges in the building there was a high likelihood of a positive result.”
Salango, whose wife is a Kanawha Circuit Court judge, said early March 22 is when officials learned a second Judicial Annex employee was displaying symptoms.
“I immediately contacted the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department and had Dr. (Sherri) Young (Chief Health Officer) reach out to the individual to talk about quarantine and testing,” Salango said. “The patient was tested at 11 a.m. and contact trace information was investigated by the health department. The patient already had self-quarantined. We received those results 4 p.m. Monday (March 23), and that’s when the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department started notifying people who might have had contact.”
Salango said the third Judicial Annex employee to test positive spurred officials to close down the building.
“We received a call that another person in Kanawha County had tested positive,” he said. “We didn’t know until we received the call that it was another Judicial Annex individual. The person was tested, and the test came back positive. Once the third patient tested positive, the health department began contacting people based on contact trace information.
“We immediately notified the West Virginia Supreme court, set up a conference call late Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. and made the decision to close the Judicial Annex.
The Kanawha County Commission has tried to be diligent. We have worked with the West Virginia Supreme Court and the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department to make sure we follow the CDC guidelines and also are in compliance with HIPAA.”
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Tim Armstead said March 26 the court has waived some rules allowing the county to do more proceedings remotely with technology. Those include some criminal proceedings, domestic violence proceedings, and abuse/neglect proceedings relating to children.
“Through a collaborative effort between the Supreme Court’s staff, judicial officials and staff in Kanawha County, and the Kanawha County Commission, we are keeping the vital functions of courts available to the public,” Armstead said.
Kanawha County Magistrate Court has been relocated temporarily to Supreme Court offices at City Center East in Kanawha City and will be staffed by senior status magistrates so current magistrates and staffs can self-isolate at the direction of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department. The public is not allowed in the building in Kanawha City. All hearings are being done by telephone or video conferencing.
The Kanawha County Magistrate Day Court number has been transferred to a phone at the Kanawha City location. Non-emergency Magistrate Court hearings have been postponed.
The Circuit Clerk’s Office and the Magistrate Clerk’s Office have been relocated to the historic Kanawha County Courthouse across Virginia Street from the Judicial Annex. Both offices have transferred their phones to the phones at the temporary location. Non-emergency Family Court hearings have been postponed. Circuit Judges can continue to work remotely as needed on emergency matters as defined by the Court’s March 22 Administrative Order.
Anyone in Kanawha County who is seeking a domestic violence petition after hours or on weekends can contact a Victim’s Advocate at 304-610-1575, 304-421-5673 or 304-549-6282. For law enforcement contact the Kanawha County Sheriff at any time at 304-357-0169 or contact a municipal law enforcement office directly.