On Monday, Gov. Justice provided an update on the most recent outbreak of COVID-19 at one of West Virginia’s churches.
Gov. Justice reported that at least 28 positive cases have now been identified, connected to the same church in Greenbrier County.
“As soon as I heard about this outbreak, I immediately ordered the DHHR, West Virginia National Guard, and Greenbrier County Health Department to run to the fire,” Gov. Justice said. “I also ordered the National Guard to immediately go to the site to begin decontamination, and they are on site today.”
The church has closed for 14 days of environmental cleaning with support from the National Guard. The DHHR will provide guidance on further prevention measures.
The outbreak in Greenbrier County marks the fifth COVID-19 outbreak at one of West Virginia’s churches.
“We have concern like you can’t imagine in that community right now,” Gov. Justice said. “How many communities do we have like this in West Virginia? They’re everywhere. Absolutely, this could be your community tomorrow. This could be your church tomorrow. This could be your family tomorrow.
“We need to do anything and everything we can do to deal with this. I want to strongly encourage all West Virginians, especially when in church settings, to follow the guidelines and use every other pew, maintain social distancing, and please wear masks.”
Due to the outbreak, Gov. Justice announced that free community COVID-19 testing in Greenbrier County – which had already been underway over the weekend – had been extended for an additional day to encourage more community members to be tested.
