By Bobby Bordelon Greenbrier County has now seen the first local death due to COVID-19. “It is with great regret that we announce our first COVID-19 death,” announced the Greenbrier County Health Department. “We lost an 82 year old male that had a prolonged hospitalization due to complications of the virus. We offer our sincere condolences to his family.” “Our sincere condolences are extended to this man’s family as we grieve the passing of another West Virginian,” said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. After a recent outbreak at a Ronceverte church, Greenbrier County has seen a massive spike in coronavirus cases, going from 10 recovered individuals to 60 culminative cases as of Friday, June 26. The Greenbrier County Health Department announced on social media that “44 cases are related to the church outbreak, three are related to travel, three are from community transmission, and 10 are fully recovered. We currently have five patients hospitalized.” Several sites in Greenbrier County will continue conducting COVID-19 testing. “There’s three main clinics that are doing the testing; one is Robert C. Byrd Clinic, one is Rainelle Medical Center, and the other one is Med Express,” explained Dr. Bridgett Morrison of the Greenbrier County Health Department. “They can always call the Health Department and we can facilitate that as well, but essentially any of those clinics can and are able to test.” “Anybody that has been tested is told to go home and self-quarantine until you get your results … because even if you are a negative, you’ve just protected so many people by not knowing in between [getting tested and getting the results],” said Theresa White, Regional Liaison for the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security. If you think you’ve been exposed, call the Greenbrier County Health Department at 304-645-1787.
