MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A top health official in West Virginia says both the state and the nation are behind on coronavirus testing.
WVU Health Sciences Executive Dean Clay Marsh said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline” he’s hopeful the number of tests given will increase in the coming weeks.
“It’s embarrassingly bad and it’s not just the state but it’s everywhere in America. We have really kind of dropped the ball,” Marsh said. “But we’re working together to try and get that up and going.”
Marsh predicted the testing is going to get better and more people will be tested.
“So we’ll see where the virus is more than we can today because now we’re kind of blind to that spread of the virus,” Marsh said.
.@claymarsh, Vice President and Executive Dean of @WVUHealth, joins @HoppyKercheval to talk about flattening the curve and reducing spread of the coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/cFGGqtnVqJ
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) March 16, 2020
Marsh supports efforts to ‘flatten the curve.”
“I would recommend more than anything else is to stop meeting in-person, stop gathering,” Marsh said. “If you have your family, if you have a friend meet at your house, meet at their house. Keep your distance from people.”
Marsh said slowing the speed of infection depends on good hygiene, not touching your face and distancing yourself from people.
“Take of yourself, take of your neighbors, take care of the vulnerable people in your community by staying in, staying isolated. Because this virus is spreading quickly around the world and we’ll see it pick up in the United States reasonably soon,” Marsh said.
Marsh said people can transmit the virus before showing symptoms, that makes testing and social distancing very important.
“The highest amounts of the virus in a person appears to be very early after the person is infected at a time when people have no symptoms,” Marsh said. “So, people can spread the virus not even knowing they’re infected with the virus, so that really tells us another important strategy we should follow-wash your hands.”
Due to the evolving #COVID19 situation, @WV_DHHR is clarifying the state's testing criteria: https://t.co/dCz7013WvV pic.twitter.com/tfuyc6Owoj
— WV DHHR (@WV_DHHR) March 16, 2020