Outbreak Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Recent W.Va. Church Outbreaks Lead To More Than 70 New Coronavirus Cases

The most recent string of COVID-19 outbreaks linked to places of worship has led to roughly 75 West Virginians testing positive for the coronavirus over the last couple of weeks.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said it is tracking outbreaks related to seven churches in Kanawha, Boone, Logan, Raleigh, Grant, Taylor and Wood counties.

This is not the state’s first bout of church outbreaks. Earlier this summer the DHHR reported smaller outbreaks in Ohio, Marshall, Hampshire, Marion and Jefferson counties. In June, more than 40 worshippers at the Graystone Baptist Church in Ronceverte, Greenbrier County, tested positive for the coronavirus. One member died.

“We want to encourage everyone to still have online services if possible, but we are going to lend our support to the churches,” said Dr. Ayne Amjad with the Bureau for Public Health during a virtual press briefing Monday. “If you’re going to still meet, then we want to offer our support to them [places of worship], and encourage face shields.”

At least 48 people had tested positive for the coronavirus by Monday afternoon, all of whom were linked to the North Charleston Apostolic Church in Kanawha County.

Roughly half those people live in Kanawha County. The outbreak also includes five Putnam County residents, nine Cabell County residents, four Lincoln County residents and one Logan County resident.

In Boone and Taylor counties, the church outbreaks were linked to bible studies.

In Taylor County, public information officer Shawn Thorn said the four local cases were linked to a weekly bible study for adults. According to Thorn, the church volunteered to close for two weeks without requests from the county health department.

Julie Miller, the Boone County Health Department administrator, said four of the eight cases from her county’s church are Boone County residents who were involved in a three-day vacation bible school for children.

“We’re still trying to get everybody to wear masks everywhere, especially when they go to church,” Miller said.

Gov. Jim Justice signed an executive order July 6, requiring all West Virginians older than 9 years old to wear a face covering indoors when social distancing is not possible.

The governor’s communications office confirmed to West Virginia Public Broadcasting via email the executive order applies to places of worship. Yet, two weeks after Justice’s order, it remains unclear how local and state health departments legally can enforce this requirement in churches.

The governor’s communications office did not respond Monday afternoon to follow-up requests for clarification, regarding county health departments’ abilities to force churchgoers to wear masks.

Miller said participants did not comply with Justice’s mask mandate, which took effect Tuesday, July 7. It’s her understanding, she added, that local health departments like hers are unable to enforce the mandate with churches, due to separation of church and state.

In Kanawha County, the director of environmental health reported by way of his spokesperson that health officials would need a circuit court judge to agree a church is a health hazard, to legally enforce a closure.

In both Boone and Kanawha counties the churches responsible for the outbreaks agreed to close for at least two weeks, following requests from the local health departments.

In Wood County, where at least five residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, public information officer Carrier Brainard for the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department said the church responsible for the outbreak was compliant with the mandate.

Brainard declined to share details regarding the church’s name and location.

“It’s just important that people not panic, but that they make the right decisions and try to wear a mask,” Brainard said. “I know it’s difficult to sing with the mask on, but that’s one of the areas that they say is the worst for projecting, when you’re not wearing a mask and you’re singing.”

Health officials also recommend worshippers sit in every other pew.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting was unable to reach health departments for Raleigh, Grant and Logan counties by the time of this article’s publication.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

More Than 20 Test Positive For Coronavirus At Charleston Church

Charleston health officials are still tracking COVID-19 cases linked to the North Charleston Apostolic Church in Charleston, after identifying more than 20 infected worshippers by Wednesday through contact tracing.

So far, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department said it has identified 19 Kanawha County residents, four Putnam County residents and one Logan County resident through contact tracing.

The church did not respond to requests for comments on Thursday from West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Pastor Anthony Moss told WOWK 13 News on Wednesday the church first learned some members were testing positive on July 9, when he closed in-person service.

Church leaders agreed to pause in-person services for the next three weeks on Wednesday, according to the health department.

Major Gen. James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard said Wednesday members had recently sanitized churches in Raleigh and McDowell counties. Local health departments didn’t respond to several requests for additional information.

As of Thursday, the Guard has helped sanitize 46 essential businesses, including churches where there have been at least one positive case of the coronavirus. That includes the Graystone Baptist Church in Ronceverte, Greenbrier County, where more than 40 members tested positive for the coronavirus in June.

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department will continue free drive-thru and walk-up testing on Saturday in Charleston at the More Excellent Way Life Church from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The church is located at 504 Virginia Street West.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

Free Coronavirus Testing Extended For Greenbrier Co. After Outbreak At Local Church

West Virginia health officials are reporting the state’s fifth known COVID-19 outbreak linked to a church – this time, in Greenbrier County.

A Facebook post on Saturday from the local health department confirmed there were at least 17 people who had tested positive for the coronavirus. The cases are linked to the Graystone Baptist Church in Ronceverte, located between a nursing home and an elementary school.

Local and state health officials, with help from the West Virginia National Guard, are offering free testing to all residents of Greenbrier County on Sunday, June 14, and Monday, June 15, at Dorie Miller Park in Lewisburg. Testing will be available both days until 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Those wishing to be tested do not need to be showing symptoms of the coronavirus. Insurance is not required to receive a test.

Earlier this week, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources confirmed four outbreaks at places of worship in Boone, Hampshire, Jefferson and Marshall counties, infecting 23 people in total.

Local health departments are still actively investigating the outbreaks in Boone and Marshall counties, according to DHHR spokesperson Allison Adler. She added that “several churches did not have adequate safety measures in place” upon reopening.

Graystone Baptist Church and the local health department did not immediately return West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s request for comment.

DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill Crouch shared his concerns on Thursday for an increased potential for COVID-19 spread in the southern counties now that the Hatfield McCoy trail systems have reopened to out-of-state riders. The DHHR is not reporting any other known outbreaks at this time.

In Greenbrier County, State Sen. Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier, is on a local COVID-19 task force. He said the Graystone Baptist Church incident will be the group’s first agenda item on Monday.

“I would be remiss if I did not encourage people to wear masks and follow social distancing,” said Baldwin, a minister for the Ronceverte Presbyterian Church. Baldwin said his church will continue holding virtual services.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

Potential For Coronavirus Spread Increases In Southern W.Va. As State Reopens

West Virginia health officials say they are noticing several small coronavirus outbreaks linked to churches and an increased potential for disease spread in the state’s southern counties, even as the governor’s office allows more businesses to reopen week by week.

The Department of Health and Human Resources on Thursday reported that 23 people were sick with COVID-19 among Boone, Hampshire, Jefferson and Marshall counties.

“We recognize the virus still is present and real, but manageable if we take precautions,” Dr. Cathy Slemp from the state Bureau for Public said during a meeting of the state’s Advisory Commission on African American Disparities for COVID-19.

The DHHR and local health departments did not disclose further information about the churches to prevent the possibility of identifying those who tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I just wish people would wear a mask,” said Julie Miller of the Boone County Health Department. “It’s not a normal, everyday life anymore. I mean, things have changed. We’ve got to be careful where we’re going.”

The Boone County outbreak had resulted in seven positive cases as of Thursday, roughly a week before the church outbreak came to Miller’s attention. She said the church – which is closed for the moment – did not enforce state guidelines for social distancing and wearing face masks.

“I just said [all of] that place has to be cleaned, and everybody has to wear a mask, and there has to be social distancing, and you really have to cut down the singing,” Miller said. “You can sing, but you can’t take your mask off to sing. When you sing, you spread things out. Whatever germs you have, even a cold will go further.”

Miller has counted eight new Boone County cases since June 1. The DHHR recorded 17 confirmed cases in Boone County as of Thursday evening.

In Marshall County, five individuals tested positive for the virus, all from the same church. None were residents of Marshall County, according to administrator Lee Thomas Cook for the county health department.

Cook said he is unsure whether the local church had complied with guidelines from the state, but he added that his department will continue to educate the public on ways to prevent spreading the disease.

The church has been sanitized and is now open.

Health departments in Hampshire and Jefferson counties did not respond to requests for comment.

As 19 other states are seeing an increase in coronavirus cases and nine are reporting an increase in hospitalizations for COVID-19, West Virginia is taking a harsher look at the reproduction rate of the coronavirus in individual counties, versus in the state as a whole.

On Thursday, coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh, dean of the WVU School of Medicine who participates in the governor’s daily press briefings, said the state has noticed an increase in the reproduction rate of the coronavirus in West Virginia’s southern counties.

“So, we really want to increase our testing there, just to sample and understand what’s going on,” Marsh said.

DHHR cabinet secretary Bill Crouch cited the reopening last month of the Hatfield McCoy Trails and an influx in out-of-state riders entering the state as a possible reason for the increase in cases.

“The southern part of West Virginia, we’ve been watching and talking about every day for at least the past week,” Crouch said. “I’m very concerned. We have the Hatfield McCoy trails and hundreds of people coming in, so we want everyone down there in the southern part of the state to do what they need to do to protect themselves, as well. People coming in from out of state makes this much more difficult to contain.”

Of the 55,000 riding permits the Hatfield McCoy Regional Trails Authority planned on selling in 2019, roughly 85 percent were supposed to come from out-of-state riders. Tourists historically are a major part of the trail system’s income.

The state continues to reopen according to a week-by-week plan from the governor’s office. Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday that nursing homes can begin reopening for guests next week.

On Thursday, Justice reported that the West Virginia State Fair would go on as planned in August.

He encouraged those watching his briefing to attend. When later asked by a reporter how Justice squared this with news of outbreaks at fairs in other states, the governor said he would encourage attendees to wear face masks and practice social distancing.

There were more than 2,000 positive cases for COVID-19 as of Thursday evening, and 86 deaths since March.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

Hepatitis A Outbreak Reported in Two W.Va. Counties

A health department spokesman in West Virginia says more than 20 cases of acute Hepatitis A have been confirmed in Kanawha and Putnam counties since January.

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department says in a news release that the recent cases are linked to a multistate outbreak.

Prior to January, the department said no confirmed cases had been reported in more than two years.

The Kentucky Department for Public Health says 311 cases had been reported in six counties, including one death. Among other states that have seen recent outbreak are California, Indiana, Michigan and Utah.

Hepatitis A is transmitted by oral contact with fecal matter. It attacks the liver and causes symptoms including abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, fever and jaundice.