Environmental Services News and Alerts

Jefferson County’s COVID-19 Task Force, a group made up of representatives from the county, municipalities and community stakeholders, has been meeting twice weekly to review and interpret guidance received from the governor’s office. The documents below should help answer many questions about businesses that are permitted to re-open.

If you are a currently permitted child care or licensed home day care and would like to reopen you must first contact the Bureau for Children and Families and apply to open as a Critical Care Center. Once you have done that and BCF notifies our office you are pending approval as a Critical Care Site then you must complete forms SG-101 and SG-101 A (download below) and return those forms to our office via e-mail at gillian.r.beach@wv.gov or fax at 304-728-3314.

Prior to re-opening you are strongly encouraged have all of your childcare workers tested for COVID-19. They may contact their primary care physician or follow these instructions in order to get tested:

WVU will be offering testing to child care workers. They must call the hotline (304) 596-2890 prior to going to the tent outside Berkeley Medical Center to have an order placed. They will need to create a mychart account to get their results and to be able to show their employer results. The staff at the tent will provide them with instructions on how to create this account.  

After the employees receive their results, the owner or manager should report them to our office. Once you have complied with all of the above, you will be approved to reopen. Further questions can be directed to Gillian Beach at (304) 728-8416 ext 3033 or at the e-mail listed above.

RABIES ALERT!

This is a public health notification that the

Jefferson County (WV) Health Department has issued a

“Rabies Alert” for the

Mordington Circle area of

Charles Town

The WV Office of Laboratory Services notified our office (JCHD) on April 16, 2020 of a “positive” test result for the rabies virus from a – CAT – submitted by us, from Mordington Circle in Charles Town.

Description:  Small black and white shorthair cat.

If you believe that you or someone else, had contact with this animal, please call the Jefferson County Health Department at (304) 728-8416 ext. 3037

All Citizens are also being reminded to make sure your animals are currently vaccinated against rabies and to avoid contact with wildlife!

We are happy to announce we are now accepting new well and septic system applications again. It may take longer than usual to process applications due to sanitarians working on COVID-19-related issues. Thank you all for your patience during the temporary suspension.

Update 4/14/2020 – we are now accepting well and septic applications again.

Due to the increased workload related to COVID-19, our office will temporarily not be accepting new well and septic applications. We will still handle final inspections and repairs.

Our sanitarians are working one-on-one with local businesses to ensure all proper measures are being taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Thank you for your patience and understanding while we focus on this vitally important issue.

Effective Tuesday, March 24, 2020 after 8:00pm by Executive Order No. 9-20, Governor Justice has issued a Stay at Home Declaration for all employees in non-essential businesses and operations.This order was established in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. As such, all licensed and registered child care programs in the State of West Virginia must cease providing care to children of parents working in jobs deemed non-essential. However,the need for child care remains a critical piece of the COVID-19 response and it is the goal of WVDHHR, Bureau for Children and Families (BCF), Division of Early Care and Education (ECE) to make every attempt to provide child care services for the COVID-19 essential workers. The complete list of essential workers in Executive Order No. 9-20 is available here. To provide for that need, registration as a Critical Care Child Caresite,is available. More information in the document below:

The West Virginia Bureau for Public Health has provided us with specific recommendations for hotels, motels, and other lodging facilities on prevent the spread of COVID-19. The guidance below addresses cleaning, meals, and more.

Due to COVID-19 our offices are closed to the public, however, we will still be providing essential public health services. Well and septic applications and payments should be submitted via email or mail. Applications and payments received through the mail may take longer to process because we will wait at least 72 hours before handling the applications due to the virus’s ability to survive on surfaces. If an installer or owner is required to be on site during our site visit, only one person may be there and they must stay at least 6-feet away from our staff while in the field. During this trying time, it may take longer than usual to process applications. We appreciate your understanding.