MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito fielded questions about the ongoing battle against drug addiction in the Eastern Panhandle, the region's traffic challenges and the spread of COVID-19 during a visit here Wednesday.

Capito, R-W.Va., talked about the issues as she toured the Berkeley County Day Report Center next to the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department on South Raleigh Street. She also met separately with other government officials in the county during the day, including talking with Martinsburg Mayor Kevin Knowles about infrastructure needs, economic development and drug addiction.

The day report center is an alternative sentencing program for nonviolent offenders who are battling addiction.

Rather than sending individuals to jail, which officials say is not the optimum environment for addiction recovery, the courts can send them to the day report center, where they can get the drug recovery help they need, said Tim Czaja, director of the center.

Clients can continue to work at jobs while undergoing treatment and drug screening at the center.

And it saves the county money since it costs about $13 a day to treat people at the center, compared to the $48.25 a day it costs to keep an inmate in the Eastern Regional Jail, according to Czaja.

Clients are required to spend a year in the center's program, then it steps down based on their success.

Berkeley County's opioid addiction battle continues to grab headlines, although there are signs of success.

Last year, there were 774 ambulance calls for suspected overdoses in Berkeley County, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. The number for this year stood at 312 on Wednesday, according to the agency.

Capito said issues like narcotics continuing to be smuggled across the nation's borders remain a threat to the nation's recovery from drug addiction. She referred to it as "holes in the system" and said easy access to narcotics in Baltimore and Philadelphia also fuels the problem. 

"You're finding the solutions here, that's the good news," Capito said standing in a hallway of the day report center with several Berkeley County officials.

County officials talked about how they started the center five years ago with only a few staff. Today it employs about 30 people and serves about 250 clients a day, Czaja briefed Capito on efforts at the center, including a "quick response team" that works to get help for addicts.

Funded by a state Department of Health and Human Resources grant, members of the team get partial access to emergency medical services records to find individuals who have been treated recently by medics for an overdose, Czaja said.

Team members knock on people's doors to extend a helping hand to them.

Of 296 contacts since October, 44% have resulted in some level of treatment, Czaja said.

Another program at the center gives police a new way to handle individuals who have been caught possessing heroin and other drugs. Instead of following the typical procedure of a drug possession arrest, the individual is able to go through the center's drug recovery program if referred there by an officer.

If the person successfully completes the program, the drug charge goes away, Czaja said.

Despite the challenges on the streets with drug addiction, Czaja said he feels confident the county is chipping away at the issue. And a lot of the hope comes from people who are open to change, he said.

"I'm yet to meet a heroin addict who likes their condition," he said.

County Administrator Alan Davis emphasized to Capito about how she was standing in the fastest-growing county in the state, which plays a part in the number of addicts here. But Davis and other county officials said they will continue to battle the problem.

"We'll take those challenges," he said.

Traffic demands 

At a West Virginia Division of Highways meeting last month n Jefferson County, Berkeley County Council member Eddie Gochenour told highway officials that something needs to change regarding the heavily-traveled two-lane W.Va. 9 between Martinsburg and Hedgesville.

W.Va. 9 between Martinsburg and Charles Town and onto the Virginia line has been expanded to four lanes. And there has been talk of doing the same between Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs in neighboring Morgan County. 

But a highway official said at the August meeting that there is no funding for the Martinsburg to Berkeley Springs segment. And even if funding existed, it would take six to 10 years to build the road, the official said.

Gochenour said during the meeting that something needs to happen now, even if it's just expanding the road to four lanes between Martinsburg and Hedgesville.

Capito said there has been progress in meeting the region's highway needs, like when Gov. Jim Justice announced in October that the state will build a $59.8 million bypass around Berkeley Springs to alleviate traffic congestion in that town.

Capito said if it's felt that the W.Va. 9 expansion is a high priority, county leaders need to get together to develop a plan of action. She said highway dollars will be coming to the state through the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill that was passed by the U.S. Senate and is awaiting action in the U.S. House of Representatives.

If local officials decide the W.Va. 9 project is a top priority, they need to get a funding request to Justice to prepare for the anticipated arrival of federal dollars, Capito said.

"The quicker you can do it, the better," she said.

COVID-19 spread 

COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly in the Eastern Panhandle, with Berkeley County experiencing a 96% increase in cases last month. Jefferson County saw a 74% increase and Morgan County saw a nearly 55% increase.

The solution?

Get vaccinated, Captio said.

"I would just encourage everyone to do it. I've had mine," she said.