Coronavirus

West Virginia To Test All Nursing Home Residents, Staff Members

Gov. Jim Justice deploys the National Guard to test, and potentially retest, every assisted living resident and staff member for the coronavirus.

West Virginia To Test All Nursing Home Residents, Staff Members
Jean-Francois Badias / AP
SMS

The governor of West Virginia has ordered all nursing home residents and workers to be tested for the coronavirus.

Amid concerns of elder care facilities' vulnerability during the pandemic, Gov. Jim Justice issued an executive order. It deployed the National Guard to test, and potentially retest, every assisted-living resident and staff member in the state. 

Justice said: "Our nursing homes, we all know, are the most vulnerable of all of our people. This disease has a way of attacking the elderly."

During the Friday press briefing, Justice said he ordered retesting because he was "tired of listening to the discrepancies" in reports on who had been checked for the virus.

Nursing homes have been a concern during the pandemic, with multiple outbreaks occurring in the facilities 

across the country. Florida and Virginia have also focused on protecting nursing homes, but aren't ordering tests for their entire assisted living populations.

Contains footage from CNN.