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Honoring West Virginia’s musical greats hits a full rest, but it will

reach crescendo in mid-November.(See why on 2A.)

Ginny West says . . .

FINAL EDITION | $1.00 TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2020 SHOWERS & T-STORMS 78 | 62 DETAILS, 8A

INSIDEn About 500 Guardsmen involved 2An WVSU forgoes SATs, ACTs 2An W.Va. Music Hall gala delayed 2An Tesla unveils ventilator prototype 2An Key food prices surging 3An COVID-19 and race, ethnicity 3An Editorial comment 4An UK’s Johnson ‘under observation’ 6An British Open nixed, Masters delayed 1Bn NFL draft is work-from-home 2Bn Dow surges past 1,600 3Bn Why ‘essential’ pay is low 3Bn Eateries feed hospital workers 5Bn Bronx Zoo tiger has coronavirus 5B

COVID-19 numbersNational

366,614 cases; 10,783 deaths

Global 1,345,048 cases;

74,565 deaths

West Virginia 9,940 tested; 345 positive; 9,595 negative; 4 deaths

By Rick SteelhammerStaff writer

All 124 residents and 39 staff members of the Eastbrook Center nursing facility in Kanawha City were tested for COVID-19 on Monday, after a positive test result was produced by one resi-dent of the nursing home on Sunday.

By Monday afternoon, a second positive test result had been produced from a member of the Eastbrook Center’s staff, bringing Kanawha County’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 70, according to the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department.

Dr. Sherri Young, the KCHD’s health officer and executive director, said that, several weeks ago, when she first planned to buy a quantity of rapid tests and develop the protocols for using them, she was aware that nursing homes would be among potential sites for coronavirus outbreaks.

“Today, we were able to determine in minutes another positive case,” she said, enabling her to order an immediate quarantine for the nursing

home. A quarantine, she said, “is the only way to stop a community spread from a nursing home setting.”

Last week, the KCHD received 1,200 rapid-re-sponse COVID-19 tests from a private supplier, Biogen of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The staff at Eastbrook Center was tested using rapid testing, which relies on finger-prick blood samples, and nasal swabs, while residents were tested using only nasal swabs. Nasal swab sam-ples were taken to Charleston Area Medial Center’s laboratory for analysis, with test results expected in 24 to 48 hours.

Young said in a news release that the rapid tests provide the KCHD with “the best way to protect our first responders and health care professionals.”

Young said the KCHD was notified late Sun-day that one of the Eastbrook Center residents had tested positive for COVID-19. After consult-ing with county, city and state officials, a team from CAMC, the KCHD, West Virginia National Guard, Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance

Authority and Charleston police was assembled.The team arrived at the Chesterfield Avenue

facility Monday morning to begin testing all patients and staff members. The same procedure was followed on March 25, after a single patient at the Brookdale Charleston Gardens nursing facility tested positive for COVID-19.

The patient who tested positive for the coro-navirus on Sunday was transferred to a Charles-ton area hospital, and family members were notified of the development, according to Larry Pack, CEO of Stonerise Healthcare, which oper-ates Eastbrook and 16 other skilled-nursing fa-cilities in West Virginia.

“While the news wasn’t what we had hoped for, it is most definitely what we have prepared for,” Pack said. “We remain focused on protect-ing all other residents and employees and will work tirelessly to maintain a safe and loving environment for those we serve.”

Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5169

or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.

COVID-19 AT KANAWHA NURSING HOME

Facility isolated to stop community spread of coronavirus

By Joe Severino Staff writer

Kanawha County residents who test positive for COVID-19 but don’t follow self-quarantine rules will be subject to GPS monitoring, accord-ing to a court order issued Monday.

The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, at the direction of the local health department, may issue GPS

ankle monitoring bracelets to resi-dents who refuse to quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus, Kanawha Circuit Chief Judge Charles King wrote in the order.

Dr. Sherri Young, health officer of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, already has the power under West Virginia code to issue a quarantine order for those who re-fuse to self-isolate after testing

positive. But county officials say some people just aren’t following those orders.

“Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that a few COVID-19 pos-itive patients have ignored Dr. Young’s order and are jeopardizing the health of others. We must take all reasonable steps to protect the public from the spread of this vi-rus,” Kanawha County Commission-

er Ben Salango said in a news re-lease.

GPS monitoring will be the last step taken to ensure people follow quarantine orders, Kanawha Sheriff Mike Rutherford said Monday.

“It’s just more of a precaution-ary-type thing, just to give us the tools, if and when we need them

Defy quarantine, get GPS monitorJudge strengthens Kanawha health officer’s authority to dictate COVID response

KENNY KEMP | Gazette-Mail

Eastbrook Center nursing home in Kanawha City is surrounded by Charleston police Monday morning after a resident was found to have been infected with the coronavirus. The nursing home’s 124 residents and 39 staff members were tested, with one staff member returning a positive test result.

JABIN BOTSFORD | The Washington Post

Dr. Anthony Fauci listens to President Donald Trump speak at the March 20 coronavirus briefing at the White House.

By Allyson Chiu and Meagan FlynnThe Washington Post

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spent a portion of Sunday’s press briefing yet again promoting an unproven treatment for the novel coro-navirus, repeatedly asking, “What do we have to lose?”

So toward the end, a CNN reporter turned to Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, for his opinion on the effective-ness of hydroxychloroquine with a sharper question: “What is the medical evi-dence?”

Standing at the micro-phone, Fauci opened his mouth — but before he could speak, the answer came out of Trump’s instead.

“Do you know how many times he’s answered that question?” Trump cut in. “Maybe 15.”

A tight smile stretched across Fauci’s face. His eyes, framed by a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, flicked quick-ly to Trump. He glanced back at the reporter, who was saying to the president, “The question is for the doctor . . . . He’s your medical expert, correct?”

Fauci’s smile, for just a mo-ment, was all teeth now. Trump raised his finger stern-ly, telling the journalist, “You don’t have to ask the ques-tion,” and so Fauci didn’t an-swer it, and the news confer-ence shuffled right along.

The unexpected interrup-tion was an extraordinary moment even in this season of brash behavior exhibited by the president during his daily briefings. While Trump has been at odds with Fauci in the past, repeatedly clouding his administration’s public health messaging, the president has never shut down his top med-ical expert so abruptly and publicly before, intervening to keep him from answering. In

President, Fauci seem at odds over drug

SEE KANAWHA, 7A

SEE FAUCI, 7A

By Lacie PiersonStaff writer

A federal judge has denied a motion from inmates in West Vir-ginia who sought to have state correctional officials take more ac-tion to ensure inmate and staff safety during the coronavirus pan-demic.

U.S. District Judge Robert Cham-bers ruled Monday that, while there is a substantial threat to inmates and employees in the state’s jails and prisons, West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials have the discretion to im-

plement policies and manage in-mates without a court stepping in to mandate what they have to do.

At the end of a 2½-hour hearing, Chambers told attorneys he was satisfied with policies and proce-dures Corrections and Rehabilita-tion officials submitted after inmates made the motion seeking more protection.

Attorneys for the division said the new policies are in-line with recom-mendations by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Chambers told attorneys Mon-day the pandemic is a situation “where we’re going to see some bad

results, no matter what’s done.”“The state has demonstrated here

that it’s thought about and taken into consideration in developing and implementing its policies all the right factors recommended in the guidance that’s been cited,” Cham-bers said. “I don’t see that I could impose an enforceable standard that would be different from simply di-recting the department to exercise its best judgement about these mat-ters.”

Jeff Sandy, secretary of the De-partment of Military Affairs and Public Safety, which oversees the Division of Corrections and Reha-

bilitation, released a statement Monday evening saying he is pleased with Chambers’ ruling.

“He showed that corrections lead-ership and the Parole Board act professionally and use common sense concerning who we release from our facilities,” Sandy said in the news release. “The [Gov. Jim] Justice Administration and Commis-sioner [Betsy] Jividen will continue to fight anything that places em-ployees, the inmates and the public at-risk.”

On Saturday, the Division of

Federal judge denies West Virginia inmates’ coronavirus motion

SEE JAILS, 7A