We know too well the drill in our state. A survey comes out and West Virginia is ranked near or at the bottom. Sometimes there’s just one state between West Virginia and last place, which has given rise here to the saying, “Thank God for Mississippi.”
So, when our state ranks at the top, it’s worth noting.
Finder, a web-based company that collates data on a variety of subjects to help people make good decisions, has come out with its rankings of how all 50 states responded to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We analyzed six key metrics that include when the state saw its first confirmed case of COVID-19, when the state declared a state of emergency and when the state issued a stay-at-home order,” Finder explained.
And West Virginia came in first!
The Mountain State gets lots of credit for putting together a coordinated response early and not waiting until the virus had a foothold to act. For example, Governor Justice declared a state of emergency March 16 even before the state had its first confirmed case. That came the following day.
Schools closed March 13th, restaurants and bars shut down less than a week later, non-essential businesses closed on the 24th, the same day the stay-at-home order was issued.
Finder said West Virginia’s prompt decisions kept it ahead of the pandemic. “While you might rightly point out that West Virginia… (was) struck later than others by COVID-19, it outperformed other states like Nebraska, which saw its first confirmed case on the same day as West Virginia.”
As a comparison, as of yesterday, Nebraska had tested 28 percent fewer people than West Virginia, but had 45 percent more positive results. Nebraska reported 33 deaths as of yesterday compared with 26 in West Virginia.
Regardless of what you think of Governor Jim Justice, he deserves credit for making good decisions during the pandemic. Perhaps his best decision came very early on when he decided to listen to the health and safety experts—COVID-19 Czar Dr. Clay Marsh, State Health Officer Dr. Cathy Slemp, DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch and National Guard Adjutant General James Hoyer.
If there have been any serious internal disagreements, they have not spilled out into the public. The leadership team has consistently presented a united front during their daily briefings and in individual interviews.
Of course, we are not out of the woods yet. West Virginians, like people everywhere, are growing impatient with the stay-at-home order and business closures. The state’s economy has tanked, while business owners and operators desperately try to hang on.
Justice’s judgment under difficult circumstances and often with conflicting or limited information has been sound. However, he still has critical decisions to make that balance the health and safety of the state’s residents with the urgency of getting the economy moving again.