While the other 49 states had reported more than 5,000 cases combined, West Virginia didn't report its first case until Tuesday afternoon, when Gov. Jim Justice announced an infection in the state's eastern panhandle.
But that doesn't mean the deadly virus hadn't earlier reached the state, where coal miners and elderly residents can be especially vulnerable.


"We've only had 84 tests in my state" as of Monday, said Joe Manchin, the state's senior US senator.
"I have over 720,000 elderly. I've got over 220,000 that are critically ill under 60 years of age," Manchin said. "If you put all this together, of the 1,800,000 people (living in West Virginia), I have over a million that could be absolutely, totally devastated by this virus if it hits."


"If we don't even have the tests to identify who is ill, who needs treatment ... what do we do?" he said. "I don't have the ventilators. I don't have the respirators. I don't have anything available to that many people that are that vulnerable."


https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/healt...rus/index.html