Governor Jim Justice announced the state achieved a goal concerning an ongoing vaccination initiative and prize drawings will take place between June twentieth and August fourth.
Justice said West Virginians ages fifty and older have crossed the threshold of 75% vaccinations with at least their first shot of vaccine. Justice also announced during his press conference on virus response that residents sixty-five and older have now reached 83.9% with at least one shot.
“We’re one percent away from a lofty goal,” Justice said, “85% percent of our folks vaccinated that are sixty-five years of age and older.”
Vaccines are available to residents ages twelve and up. As of today, 51.1% of the state’s eligible population has received their first shots and 41.2% are fully vaccinated.
W.Va. has officially joined other states in offering prizes to give incentive to people to get vaccinated.
Prizes include custom outfitted trucks, shotguns and weekend retreats at state parks. The state will also be drawing a winner for $1 million on Father’s Day Sunday, June 20. Father’s Day is also W.Va. Day and the targeted day to end the state’s mask mandate.
Justice said every resident of the state that has received a vaccine is eligible. A simple registry will be unveiled soon.
“If you just step back and think,” Justice said,” Why is the world would you have to giveaway something to get somebody vaccinated. Unfortunately, it’s the way of the world in a lot of situations.”
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reported 571 new cases of coronavirus Tuesday. The new cases have accumulated since the department’s last update on Friday.
Five additional deaths were reported today. A total of 2,797 West Virginians has died due to complications from the coronavirus.
W.Va. active cases are still down under five thousand with a total of 4,550 active cases. Monday’s daily infection rate is 4%.
Hospital cases in the state are now at 207 patients. The hospital cases include 81 patients in ICU and 33 patients requiring a ventilator.