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In pro-Trump West Virginia, a fight to convince residents a pandemic is coming

A hospital struggles to prepare a community for a virus many still don’t see as a serious threat

PETERSBURG, W.Va. — The church parking lots were full. Bob Milvet, head of the hospital, saw them as he drove to work last Sunday morning. Packed lots meant packed pews. That meant danger in a rural county with more than 60 churches, from large flocks to tiny country congregations.

The novel coronavirus would surely burn through them like coal fire.

Milvet knew he needed the churches to close. He had to sound the alarm about an infectious disease that, like so many topics in the country, was viewed across a partisan divide. Continue reading.

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