Members of the West Virginia National Guard”s special response teams provide hands-on Personal Protective Equipment instruction to the staff of Cabell Huntington Hospital to help prepare the facility for potential future cases of novel coronavirus in Huntington, West Virginia [Handout/US Army National Guard/Edwin L Wriston/Reuters]
West Virginia’s governor said on Tuesday night that the state has reported its first positive case of coronavirus, meaning all 50 US states now have confirmed cases.
Governor Jim Justice said the confirmed case was detected in the state’s Eastern Panhandle, an area close to Washington, DC. He did not immediately disclose the county where the illness occurred.
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In a televised address, he also ordered bars, restaurants and casinos to close, except for carry-out food services.
“We knew it was coming. We’ve prepared for this and we shouldn’t panic. We should be cautious and we should be concerned, but we should not panic,” Justice said. “We should go ahead and try to live our lives as best we can.”
Death toll surpasses 100
The confirmation of the West Virginia case came as the death toll across the US passed the 100 mark on Tuesday after Washington state reported six new fatalities, bringing the country’s total to 103.
Washington has experienced the most deaths, with 54. Thirty of those deaths were connected with a nursing home in a Seattle suburb.
New York on Tuesday reported more confirmed cases than Washington state for the first time. New York has topped 1,300 cases, while Washington was just over 1,000.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and the vast majority recover in several weeks. But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause severe illness, including pneumonia.
Worldwide, the coronavirus has infected more than 184,000, according to the World Health Organization. More than 7,500 people have died as a result of the virus.
More than 80,000 have recovered from the virus, according to John Hopkins University.
SOURCE:
AP news agency
