West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin warns against praising low coronavirus rate: 'We didn't test'
President Trump spent Tuesday portraying West Virginia as a coronavirus success story. Its senator says that's dangerously untrue.
Before Tuesday, West Virginia was the last state in the nation that hadn't reported any cases of COVID-19, leading Trump to praise Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice for "doing a good job." But as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) — a conservative Democrat who often votes with Trump — said in a Wednesday interview with CNN, he "hoped the president wouldn't go down that road and make it look like we were doing something special."
The only "special" thing is that "they didn't test," Manchin continued. "We have no testing, we're not prepared, people think that we're immune from this," Manchin added, warning against portraying West Virginia as "some kind of beacon of hope."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Manchin warned how susceptible his state is to COVID-19 on the Senate floor on Monday, noting a Kaiser Family Foundation report that showed West Virginia has a huge portion of at-risk adults when it comes to possible coronavirus infection. A full half of West Virginia's adults have been deemed at risk of contracting COVID-19 — a higher proportion than any other state.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
The best new music of 2024 by genre
The Week Recommends Outstanding albums, from pop to electro and classical
By The Week UK Published
-
Nine best TV shows of 2024 to binge this Christmas
The Week Recommends From Baby Reindeer and Slow Horses to Rivals and Shogun, here are the critics' favourites
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: December 28, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Marty Makary: the medical contrarian who will lead the FDA
In the Spotlight What Johns Hopkins surgeon and commentator Marty Makary will bring to the FDA
By David Faris Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study finds
Speed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes risk
Speed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 race
Speed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burger
Speed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Long Covid: study shows damage to brain's 'control centre'
The Explainer Research could help scientists understand long-term effects of Covid-19 as well as conditions such as MS and dementia
By The Week UK Published
-
FDA OKs new Covid vaccine, available soon
Speed read The CDC recommends the new booster to combat the widely-circulating KP.2 strain
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published