Officials from Fairmont State University, the Marion County Health Department and the West Virginia National Guard coordinated for all incoming freshmen to be tested for COVID-19 upon their arrival to campus, starting Sunday.
Officials from Fairmont State University, the Marion County Health Department and the West Virginia National Guard coordinated for all incoming freshmen to be tested for COVID-19 upon their arrival to campus, starting Sunday.
Staff file photo by Jonathan Weaver
Health officials and members of the West Virginia National Guard administered COVID-19 tests to Marion County residents at Windmill Park in 2020.
Staff file photo by John Mark Shaver
Health Department staffers and volunteers helped test about 600 people in Marion County on Aug. 1.
FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WV News) — Pursuing the state’s goal to test as many West Virginians as possible for COVID-19, the Marion County Health Department will hold free drive-thru testing Thursday at Palatine Park.
Residents can receive a free test from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Community testing is important for residents’ health and for the state’s data-gathering initiative, according to Lloyd White, executive director of the Marion Health Department.
“It’s the only way to know what the prevalence is and the rates in our community,” White said. “It gives us a gauge on the community. The more we test and the less cases we find, that means our percentages are lower. When our percentages are lower, we stay in the green, and that means more things will be able to happen in a positive way.”
White said anyone interested in getting a free test should make it a point to stop by Palatine Park Thursday.
“I would recommend it for anyone who wants to get tested for any reason,” White said. “Maybe they think they’ve been exposed or they just want to know. We just want them to come and be tested.”
White said that, compared to other counties in the state, Marion County is handling the virus relatively well. He said that in the past week, the county has routinely only caught one or two cases each day, a figure with which he’s happy.
“Trending-wise, I’m pleased with where we’re at, although certainly I’d rather see zero cases,” White said. “As long as we don’t see any spikes like five or six cases a day, I think we will continue to be in a manageable position.”
White said he’s similarly happy with the containment of the virus on Fairmont State University’s campus. Last week, university officials announced that affected students will be quarantined on-campus at Pence Hall.
White said the university has been very cooperative with the health department.
“I am very pleased with how Fairmont State is handling things,” White said. “We’ve worked with them at least two months prior to opening schools. We’ve gone through a lot of scenarios, and I think they’ve done an excellent job identifying cases as well as assisting with contact tracing and quarantining.”
He’s also been closely following the COVID-19 situation at the county school level, and given the circumstances, he commended those in the school system working to do what they can to keep the virus from spreading.
“We settled on the blended option because we agreed that that was the safest option,” White said. “We’ve been coming up on two weeks in class now, and we’ve got zero cases in the school system. I think that speaks volumes for the control measures that were put in place by the board to decrease the risk of transmission. …
“At this point in time, it seems to be working, but I think it’s naïve to think that we don’t have cases. Eventually, we will, but I think with the controls we have in place, that case count should be minimal.”
Fairmont News Editor John Mark Shaver can be reached at 304-844-8485 or jshaver@theet.com.
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