Capito answers COVID questions in Mon/Preston telephone town hall and Q&A with The Dominion Post

MORGANTOWN — Monongalia and Preston County residents got a chance Wednesday afternoon to question Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., in a telephone town hall.

Capito took the calls from her D.C. office. The constituents’ questions covered COVID-19 issues, the CARES Act aid, and the next COVID aid package now in the works.

Following the town hall, Capito spent time with The Dominion Post for a Q&A.

This was Capito’s 10^th “teletownhall,” her office said, with constituents from 33 counties.

Callers gave only their first names. Mike owns a small business and received a Paycheck Protection Program loan, intended to keep small businesses afloat. We’re at the end of that program, he said. But seeing a new surge in case numbers, so businesses will continue to struggle.

Mike asked if there’s a plan to extend the PPP and wondered how he would deal with his employees after the current PPP money is spent.

Capito said they are talking about another plan, but the details aren’t solid yet. There’s money left and part of the discussion is giving businesses a “second bite at the apple” to carry them through the next several months.

Corey, another business owner, said many businesses are having a hard time hiring people because they’ve been collecting the additional $600 per week Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation on top of their regular unemployment and dont want to work.

Capito said the PUC expires at the end of this month and a continuation is being negotiated. But there’s division: some want to extend it through the end of the year. Others agree with Corey that it’s a disincentive to work. He contemplates some kind of middle ground that would continue to help people who need it but wouldn’t pay them more than they make on the job.

A couple callers described difficulties collecting their unemployment. Capito said she has a case worker dedicated to handling those problems: Kali Vernon at 304-347-5372.

Paula expressed concern that people don’t understand the value of COVID-19 testing.

An example is President Trump, who was quoted saying at a June 15 roundtable, “If you don’t test, you don’t have any cases. If we stopped testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.”

He later tried to reverse himself, telling Fox News, “Sometimes I jokingly say, or sarcastically say, if we didn’t do tests we would look great. But you know what? It’s not the right thing to do.”

Capito said, yes, the more people tested, the more the raw positive case numbers go up. You have to look at the percentages of positives compared to the total.

In the midst of the pandemic, she said, it’s often not understood if somebody died from COVID or with COVID – meaning existing health conditions made them more vulnerable to the virus.

Eventually, she said, those numbers will be crunched, but the focus now is on stopping the spread.

Dominion Post Q&A

The Dominion Post asked Capito to expand on her comments about extending the PPP. She said there is $100 billion left unspent that can be repurposed, and the Senate GOP idea is to add another $90 billion to it.

She mentioned a number of types of buisnesses that are still struggling to survive, among them bars, restaurants, wellness centers, hotels, bed and breakfasts,and movie theaters.

The Dominion Post has received many complaints about how CARES Act money has been channeled through state governors’ offices, and that Gov. Jim Justice is releasing it too slowly. We asked if there is any talk of changing that for the next package.

Capito said that Justice is among a number of governors, especially of smaller states, who have been waiting for more flexibility to replace lost local tax revenues, such as B&O and sales taxes.

“We’re going to give the governors the flexibility to use the money they already have to refill the revenue coffers,” she said, That will lead to larger chunks of CARES money flowing out of Charleston.

County health departments have said they’re on the front lines of testing but haven’t received any CARES money. Justice has said there’s federal grant money for that.

Asked to weigh in, Capito said, “County health departments are part of what the governor could be helping with the COVID money that he has.” The health departments need to go directly to the governor and get clarification of how to get the money. In West Virginia, Justice has $54 million apart from the CARES $1.25 billion that’s supposed to go to local health departments.

It’s been pointed out that states with mask mandates have seen their COVID case numbers improved. We askd Capito whether a national mask order would be constitutional or worthwhile.

She couldn’t speak to the constitutionality, she said, but noted, “The president has evolved on this issue.”

People have freedom of choice, she said, but, “It’s easy to wear a mask. Wear a mask to protect yourself. Wear a mask to protect the other person too.” They’re easy to find or make. “Why not just do it?”

We also asked her thoughts on the universities preparing to reopen and the thousand of students who will be pouring into Morgantown and Huntington.

“I’ve talked to the university presidents,” I know they want to have their students back and they want to do it safely.” She noted the various precautions WVU has taken or will take.

“I think it’s going to be a big strain on Morgantown and Huntington where the bigger populations are,” she said.

“It’s hard with young people to say, ‘You’ve got to really be responsible with your behavior.’ But what’s going to happen is if they’re not responsible with their behavior they’re going to find there aren’t any options for them to go out and congregate. … I don’t think any school would open if they felt it was not safe.”