WOOD COUNTY, W.Va. — The public information officer for the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department based in Parkersburg reported growing signs of compliance at the start of the first full day of Governor Jim Justice’s Stay At Home Order, an attempt to slow any COVID-19 spread.
“I see less and less vehicles on the road and restaurants are really cooperating and closing their doors and just having take out,” said Carrie Brainard, the PIO.
“I think people are starting to see the value in trying to do what is necessary so we don’t have an epidemic here.”
The Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department serves Wood County along with Calhoun County, Pleasants County, Ritchie County, Roane County and Wirt County.
As of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, the state Department of Health and Human Resources was reporting one confirmed case in that region, a case that was in Wood County.
Available testing sites in the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department’s region included those at WVU Medicine Camden Clark Hospital in Parkersburg; Roane General Hospital and Roane County Family Health Care and through Calhoun County’s Minnie Hamilton Health System.
Testing was in the works, as of Wednesday, for Ritchie Regional Health Center.
Additionally, “We have looked at doing drive-ins (for testing). We’re just working with the different organizations and agencies to find out where the biggest need is for us to be,” said Brainard.
Brainard has been in touch with health departments in other parts of West Virginia along with Ohio during the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re trying to stay as informed as possible on what’s going on around us as well as in our counties,” she told MetroNews.