By Rick Steelhammer, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., described a shortage of coronavirus testing materials made available to West Virginia as “ridiculous,” producing only 137 tests to date for a population of nearly 1.8 million, with only enough diagnostic supplies on hand to test fewer than 500 additional residents.
With none of the 84 tests having produced a positive result when Manchin made those remarks, and with no widespread testing capability on the horizon, the senator said he feared West Virginians would be lulled “into a false sense of safety.”
On Tuesday, that false sense of safety found a champion in President Donald Trump, who, during a White House briefing on the coronavirus outbreak, took note of West Virginia’s status as the only state yet to report a confirmed case of the coronavirus.
Trump praised “Big Jim,” his nickname for Gov. Jim Justice, for “doing a good job” of keeping the coronavirus at bay.
“We have all of this equipment in stock and we’re looking at different sites and a few different locations” to send it to, he said. “We’re not going to need them in West Virginia, where so far, I guess, they have [no confirmed coronavirus cases].” …