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CHARLESTON — Three West Virginia churches, including one in Cabell County, have 42 parishioners with COVID-19, Gov. Jim Justice reported Friday.
The other two churches are in Wood and Taylor counties. The state is not releasing the names of the churches.
Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch said health officials weighed whether or not the churches with outbreaks should be named, but ultimately decided doing so did more harm than good. He said there were also confidentiality concerns.
“Church members feel having their name publicly mentioned in the media did not help them,” said Dr. Ayne Amjad, state health officer. “We reach out to the churches, help them get their services online or find other ways to make their worship safe. But they did feel they were being stigmatized by the media. We are trying to help them and then help the community. It’s personal. They want to worship, and we don’t want to make it a bad thing for church members.”
Crouch said they are considering other groupings of outbreaks to make public.
“We have outbreaks all over, from golf courses to weddings, baby showers and funerals,” Crouch said.
There were 123 new positive cases of COVID-19 reported statewide Friday, for a total of 8,274, and four new deaths: a 77-year-old woman from Logan County, an 84-year-old woman from Logan County, a 73-year-old man from Logan County and a 97-year-old man from Mercer County. The total deaths related to COVID-19 is now 157.
Total cases by county are: Barbour (31), Berkeley (727), Boone (114), Braxton (8), Brooke (72), Cabell (436), Calhoun (6), Clay (18), Doddridge (6), Fayette (166), Gilmer (18), Grant (131), Greenbrier (94), Hampshire (86), Hancock (112), Hardy (62), Harrison (240), Jackson (166), Jefferson (303), Kanawha (1,046), Lewis (28), Lincoln (97), Logan (285), Marion (198), Marshall (130), Mason (70), McDowell (65), Mercer (219), Mineral (127), Mingo (198), Monongalia (973), Monroe (20), Morgan (32), Nicholas (40), Ohio (275), Pendleton (42), Pleasants (14), Pocahontas (42), Preston (127), Putnam (207), Raleigh (282), Randolph (213), Ritchie (3), Roane (19), Summers (17), Taylor (61), Tucker (11), Tyler (15), Upshur (38), Wayne (214), Webster (4), Wetzel (44), Wirt (7), Wood (269) and Wyoming (46).
Nearly 53,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported across the U.S. on Friday, for a total of 5,228,817, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 166,317 deaths related to the virus.
Follow reporter Taylor Stuck on Twitter and Facebook @TaylorStuckHD.
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