In pro-Trump West Virginia, a fight to convince residents a pandemic is coming
The church parking lots were full. Bob Milvet, head of the hospital, saw them as he drove to work last Sunday morning. Packed lots meant packed pews. That meant danger in a rural county with more than 60 churches, from large flocks to tiny country congregations.
Milvet knew he needed the churches to close. He had to sound the alarm about an infectious disease that, like so many topics in the country, was viewed across a partisan divide. His hospital sits at the heart of a politically conservative community, even by West Virginia standards, in a county where President Trump won nearly 90 percent of the 2016 vote. For weeks, people here listened as Trump and conservative media dismissed the virus as a hoax.
Many residents accused the state’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, of overreacting when he closed the schools. “I think it’s all B.S.,” one local said.
At a nearby hardware store, manager Jim Musser said he’s heard more worry about all the changes in anticipation of the coronavirus — schools shutting down, local restaurants switching to carryout — than the disease itself. “The feeling I get from talking to people is it could be a serious deal,” Musser said. “But it could look like the regular flu, too.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/22/pro-trump-west-virginia-fight-convince-residents-pandemic-is-coming/
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