Monongalia County Health Officer Talks Plan To Protect Local Nursing Home After Coronavirus Outbreak

On this West Virginia Morning, we’ll visit the upper Kanawha Valley where people know the inside of economic hardship, and we’ll learn more about how officials are trying to contain the coronavirus at a nursing home in Morgantown where 20 cases have been reported.

Sundale Nursing Home in Morgantown now has 20 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and is being called “ground zero” for the outbreak in West Virginia. Kara Lofton spoke with Dr. Lee Smith, Executive Director and County Health Officer for the Monongalia County Health Department who has been helping coordinate the response to the outbreak.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health and Charleston Area Medical Center.

As the nation grapples with unemployment numbers related to the coronavirus pandemic, locally in West Virginia, the economy has been struggling for years. But there are people here looking for solutions.

On the latest episode of Us & Them titled “Upriver Battle: Two Mayors Join Forces to Revive Rural Small Towns Against All Odds,” host Trey Kay talks with several people working to bring jobs to our state. Trey has been spending some time these past several months exploring several communities along route 60 in West Virginia. He spoke with people there about what they hope will help them find a new way forward.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the West Virginia Humanities Council.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.