From staff reports
CHARLESTON Two Wood County residents and one Jackson County resident were among the COVID deaths, reported Tuesday by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
The DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 79-year-old female from Wood County, an 80-year-old male from Wood County and an 81-year-old male from Jackson County.
The DHHR also confirmed the deaths of a 64-year-old female from Lincoln County, a 68-year-old female from Logan County, an 85-year-old male from Boone County, a 53-year-old male from Lincoln County, a 53-year-old female from Cabell County, an 81-year-old male from Marion County, a 64-year-old male from Kanawha County, a 71-year-old female from Wayne County, a 71-year-old male from Preston County, an 80-year-old male from Cabell County, a 69-year-old female from Logan County and a 74-year-old female from Boone County.
The Warren Co. Regional Jail in Kentucky.
When the first coronavirus cases were reported last year, Warren County, Kentucky, Jailer Stephen Harmon knew there was going to be a COVID-19 outbreak in his jail. It was just a matter of when.
“We tried our best to keep it from happening,” he said. “However with this many people in a fairly small spot, we knew that that was going to happen at some point so we responded to it as best we could.” Warren County Regional Jail
Warren County, KY, Jailer Stephen Harmon
New cleaning regimens and masks helped the jail prevent an outbreak until December, when Harmon’s prediction came true. More than 300 inmates and about 45 staffers tested positive before the outbreak was contained.
A coal barge travels down the Kanawha River in Charleston.
This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight. For more stories from Mountain State Spotlight, visit www.mountainstatespotlight.org.
In response to pressure from utilities and consumer advocates, West Virginia lawmakers have watered down a bill originally designed to make it difficult if not impossible for utilities to shut down the state’s struggling coal plants.
The bill would have forced the state’s coal plants to continue to “burn” coal at 2019 rates and gave three different state agencies including one created solely for the purpose of promoting the state’s extraction industry veto power over future closures.
PARKERSBURG A year ago, West Virginia was making plans for when, not if, the novel coronavirus reached the Mountain State. Since then, nearly 2.3 million
ebevins@newsandsentinel.com Parkersburg Municipal Building maintenance worker Westley Lockhart cleaned the handles of the doors to City Council chambers on March 13, 2020, as officials in Parkersburg and other municipalities were grappling with how to respond to the burgeoning pandemic. (File Photo) The parking lot at Grand Central Mall in Vienna was mostly empty on April 10, 2020,more than two weeks after it temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (File Photo) Parkersburg City Council met in its chambers for the first time in more than a month on June 2, 2020, and approved the final reading of an ordinance creating a $500 B&O tax exemption to assist businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. (File Photo)