During Monday’s virtual press briefing, Governor Jim Justice urged West Virginians to continue following social distancing and hand washing guidelines saying “it’s working” despite the state now having four deaths due to the virus.
“We’re the most elderly state, we’re the most chronic risk state, we’re the highest risk state of all and we’re within a rocks throw of all these populations where people are dying like flies,” he said. “And you got to listen and you got to stay the course. The storm is either close upon us or in some places it's even looking like it's fading away. We’re close, we’re close, please stay the course.”
However, over the weekend Justice issued additional orders for six countieswith the highest rates of coronavirus, limiting gatherings to five people or fewer and restricting the number of people allowed in stores.
“They represent right at 60 percent of the total positive cases we have in the state,” he said. “They’re true hot spots and we need to stay right dead on top of this and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Justice also announced the state has expanded Workforce West Virginia’s capabilities to 24-7 to speed up the processing of unemployment claims.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from Marshall Health and Charleston Area Medical Center.
