West Virginia Governor's Office issued the following announcement on July 31.
Gov. Jim Justice joined West Virginia health leaders and other officials for his latest daily press briefing regarding the State’s COVID-19 response.
U.S. TREASURY: WV’S CARES ACT USAGE RATE 4TH-BEST IN NATION
During Friday’s briefing, Gov. Justice announced that a report, released this week by the U.S. Treasury Department, ranks West Virginia as the 4th-best state in the nation when it comes to the rate at which CARES Act funding is being used.
“West Virginia is 4th in the nation in this and that’s great, there’s no question. But, even at 4th, it’s not good enough for me,” Gov. Justice said. “I’m the person who’s telling you, ‘Let’s go from 50th to 1st.’
“1st is exactly what we want to be in West Virginia.”
According to the Treasury Department’s report, West Virginia ranks 1st in both total funding used and funding usage rate among all 21 states across the country that received the base CARES Act amount of $1.25 billion from Congress.
“I’ve been saying every day how good we’ve been doing at getting our CARES Act money out to our people,” Gov. Justice said. “I know that we can’t be fast enough, no matter what we do in getting dollars out. But being criticised for it is completely unfounded.
“Here is a report by the Treasury Department that is just telling everyone what our great people have done in terms of pushing dollars out the door and getting money in the pipelines,” Gov. Justice continued. “And this report is significant because all states had to be measured the exact same way: by the Treasury Department’s guidelines.”
Gov. Justice was joined during Friday’s briefing by Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce and West Virginia Chamber of Commerce President Steve Roberts, who discussed the Justice Administration’s efficiency at getting CARES Act funding to communities and businesses across the state.
“We’re very appreciative of how the CARES Act has been handled,” Joyce said. “Once the criteria was determined and the process was laid out, it’s been really very efficient and effective. I can’t say enough.
“It’s going to prove vital moving forward for us to continue our essential services; our police and fire protection and all the things that are citizens count on and expect from us,” Joyce continued. “And so, Governor, I want to thank you, on behalf of the citizens of Parkersburg, for all that you’ve done.”
At the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, we are privileged, within our membership, to have companies that employ over half of West Virginia’s entire workforce. And so we hear from those companies,” Roberts said. “We appreciate that, with the Governor’s leadership, we in West Virginia are number four in the country. We like when you say let’s go from where we are to number one. We want to be in that race.
“I want to thank you for your leadership in helping so many small businesses in West Virginia with their cash and customer needs,” Roberts continued.
$2.5 MILLION COMMITTED TO COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES TO TEST ALL STUDENTS
Also on Friday, Gov. Justice announced that he is pledging $2.5 million to ensure that all public and private college and university students and staff members are able to be tested for COVID-19 upon their return to campus.
“We are pledging, right now, $2.5 million to go toward our smaller schools because WVU and Marshall have their own plans and they’re working them great,” Gov. Justice said. “But, for our smaller schools, we will support them with the funds and then we will defer to them as far as determining exactly how they’re going to do the testing.
“But we’ll pass the torch right to our institutions and say, ‘Let’s go,’” Gov. Justice continued. “Let’s test everybody that’s going to be on one of our campuses.”
The funding will come out of West Virginia’s portion of Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds, provided by the U.S. Department of Education to support educational needs in each state related to COVID-19. The GEER funds, approved by Congress through the CARES Act, are a separate allocation from the $1.25 billion in discretionary funds appropriated to the State.
The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission will ensure that the institutions that need these funds to fully test their students and staff get what they need.
The Governor has also asked the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and the West Virginia National Guard to provide resources and support as needed.
The Governor was also joined Friday by Fairmont State University President Dr. Mirta Martin – who also leads the West Virginia’s Council of Presidents, which is comprised of all of the colleges and universities across the state.
“The announcement that you have earmarked funds to help us test all of our students, faculty, and staff is evidence of your resolve to place the needs of our state and of our institutions first,” Martin said. “Governor Justice, on behalf of West Virginia’s universities and colleges, please accept our very heartfelt and sincere gratitude for your support.
“While this pandemic has been the defining event of our lifetime, you, Mr. Governor, have brought optimism, ambition, and heartfelt care to West Virginia,” Martin continued. “You have guided our state by putting ambition into action and we are so very grateful.”
“We all want to go back to school, but we’ve got to do it right, we’ve got to do it as safe as we possibly can,” Gov. Justice said. “We’ve got to protect our students, our faculties, and our communities. We’ve got to protect all those around us.”
Original source can be found here.