West Virginia Public News Service – With Gov. Jim Justice issuing a stay-at-home order this week to battle COVID-19, a new report warns West Virginia has one of the nation’s most vulnerable populations for contracting the deadly virus. Read article.
The Kaiser Family Foundation study says the Mountain State’s rapidly aging population makes it much more susceptible to the new coronavirus.
And Kelly Allen, director of policy engagement for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, cites another contributing problem — that many younger people in the state have serious health issues.
“Our adults over 18 who are non-elderly also have a pretty significant share of underlying conditions — like asthma, like diabetes, you know,” she explains. “We have lots of folks who have occupational-related illnesses, like black lung, and all of those respiratory things put folks at higher risk.
