Appalachia Health News

While the president has asserted that children are “almost immune” from COVID-19, public health experts say many things are unknown about how the virus impacts youth, particularly long-term.

“The short answer is that we do not know,” said Dr. Mariana Lanata, a pediatric infectious disease specialist who works at Marshall Health. “This virus is completely new, and we are still getting to know it and know what it does.”

Seven West Virginians died in the past 24 hours due to COVID-19, the most deaths from the virus in a single day since the pandemic began.

On April 3, West Virginia Secretary of Revenue Dave Hardy told Governor Jim Justice that the state would run out of cash by May 10 due to economic repercussions from the coronavirus pandemic.

Editor's Note: The article original stated there were more than 6,800 active cases in West Virginia, but this was the total number of reported cases in the state.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said the state’s hospitalization rates are up 10 percent since Friday due to the coronavirus, and more than 1,938 people are currently active with the disease. Despite the increase, Justice said West Virginia continues to have significantly lower rates of the virus than surrounding states.

As the coronavirus pandemic lingers in the United States, and as many who can, continue to work and live in the narrow confines of their home, Americans are taking a long, hard look at why they live where they live. For many, the question has become, ‘if I can work from anywhere, why am I living here?’ 

As coronavirus cases rise in West Virginia and across many states, parents are grappling with whether schools will be safe spaces for children and teachers this coming year. 

Federally, there is no official guidance about how to open schools safely. But at the end of June, the American Academy of Pediatrics put out a recommendation that for kids, school should be in-person in the fall. 

There's been a lot of buzz about antibodies and coronavirus. Should you get tested for them to see if you've had the virus and didn't know? If you have antibodies in your system are you basically in the clear? In last week's Facebook Live health interview Kara Lofton dug into these questions with Dr. Eric Houpt — an infectious disease specialist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. This is an excerpt of that conversation that has been lightly edited for clarity.

Lofton: So to begin Dr. Houpt, how do antibodies work?

A panel of state and federal experts said while it’s still too early to tell what economic recovery in West Virginia will look like, the data is showing a better outlook than expected. 

Speaking at an online webinar Thursday, West Virginia University economist John Deskins said it’s possible that West Virginia will bounce back quickly in what economists call a “v-shaped” pattern. 

West Virginia Commissioner for Public Health Dr. Cathy Slemp has resigned following public criticisms from Governor Jim Justice. 

In his virtual press briefing Wednesday, Justice said officials recently discovered that some coronavirus case numbers were reported incorrectly. Justice used Huttonsville prison as an example, saying while the total number of cases had dropped at the facility following an outbreak at the end of May, reporting from Randolph County had not taken the recoveries there into account, artificially boosting the state’s active case numbers.

Updated on June 19, 2020 at 5:30 p.m.

As West Virginia continues to ease coronavirus-related restrictions this week under Gov. Jim Justice’s safer-at-home order, including nursing home visitations, some hospitals in the state are choosing to keep their doors shut to most visitors.

Officials are urging vacation-goers to rethink upcoming travel and get tested for the coronavirus if they have visited Myrtle Beach. In today’s virtual press briefing, officials said more new coronavirus cases have been linked to recent trips there.

Today is Juneteenth — a day that celebrates the abolishment of slavery in the United States. Almost 200 years later, protests surrounding police brutality against Black Americans have erupted across the country. Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic, which has been hitting African Americans harder than white people, continues. In our new weekly Facebook Live show focused on health in Appalachia, Kara Lofton interviewed Dr. Lauri Andress, a public health researcher, and Dr.

Nursing homes, which have been closed to guests since mid-March because of the coronavirus, will soon be reopening to visitors.

In his daily virtual press briefing, Gov. Jim Justice said nursing home visitation will be phased in starting Wednesday, June 17. In order to reopen to visitors, nursing homes must have had no positive cases in the past 14 days and must pass a certification by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. 

West Virginia is now poised to be able to produce its own personal protective equipment, swabs and ventilators in state to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. 

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said officials are bracing for a spike in new coronavirus cases as businesses slowly reopened, but so far, the state hasn’t seen it.

In his daily virtual press conference Tuesday, May 26, Justice said officials were waiting, though, to see if Memorial Day festivities could negatively impact that trend. 

For people in recovery from addiction, coronavirus can be particularly challenging. Take Ashley Temple -- for the past several months the single mom of three has been working her way through the Rea of Hope recovery program in Charleston. 

“I was, you know, broken and just wanted a better way of life and wanted to be an example for my kids and show them you know that I made mistakes in the past, but I didn't let it define who I was,” Temple said. “And I persevered through all of that.”

Many people in active recovery say the period when they were using drugs was the loneliest time in their lives. Now, with social distancing in place due to the coronavirus, they’re experiencing isolation again, but this time with the added pressure of trying to stay sober.

By the time Barlow Harlin was 32, he had spent the better part of a decade doing three things: taking care of his aging mother, working as a sound engineer and drinking, alone, in his apartment. 

Today marked the first day of West Virginia’s reopening plan. At his daily virtual press conference Gov. Jim Justice announced he will lift the stay-at-home order on Monday, May 4th,  and will issue a new edict he’s calling “safer at home.”

WorkForce West Virginia has finally caught up on unemployment claims Governor Jim Justice said in his daily virtual press briefing. 

In the briefing, Justice said WorkForce West Virginia has processed more than 150,000 unemployment claims in the last month and a half -- typically at this time of year the number would be closer to 3400.