‘Terrible killer’ from the South. WV governor blames Myrtle Beach for COVID-19 spread
Facing new coronavirus outbreaks in his state, W.Va. Gov. Jim Justice warned residents against traveling south, particularly to Myrtle Beach, naming the tourist destination at least three times during a Monday press conference.
“This terrible killer is moving from the South,” Justice said, pointing out that West Virginia’s southern counties are seeing some of the highest numbers of reported COVID-19 cases.
The virus “is migrating from the south to us,” he said.
Justice blamed Myrtle Beach for an outbreak in Logan County, home to about 32,000 people in southwestern West Virginia.
“It is absolutely ridiculous to have 100 cases in Logan County,” he said Monday. “And if you’ve listened to our health experts, a significant, if not the majority of this, is driven by Myrtle Beach.”
Data from the W.Va. Department of Health & Human Resources shows there were 148 COVID-19 cases in Logan as of Sunday.
This isn’t the first time Justice, a Republican, has discouraged residents from vacationing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In June, when eight people reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 in Preston County after visiting Myrtle Beach, Justice said the city had “a real problem going on.”
Outbreaks elsewhere in West Virginia have been traced to Myrtle Beach, as have outbreaks in other states, including Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, and Washington, D.C.
Myrtle Beach remains a tourist hot spot, despite South Carolina being deemed a COVID-19 hot zone. More than 92,000 people in the state have tested positive for the coronavirus since March, and more than 1,700 have died.
Along the S.C. coast, officials say the virus is especially prevalent, and they have recommended that visitors get tested after they leave.
Justice said West Virginia is now considering travel restrictions, and he said the state is doing a better job than its neighbors of keeping the virus under control.
As of Sunday, West Virginia had 6,854 confirmed coronavirus cases and 117 deaths.
Justice compared a resident visiting the South and returning home to opening a “can of nightcrawlers.”
“You think you’ve got them all in the can, you turn around and look and a bunch of them have already crawled out of the can and you’ve got different things in different spots,” he said.
West Virginia wouldn’t be the first state to enforce quarantine rules on residents returning from South Carolina. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut require residents to self isolate for two weeks after traveling to the Palmetto state.
While some officials are advising people to be careful when visiting South Carolina’s coast, or urging them to avoid the area completely, local leaders are pushing to keep tourism season alive, the Island Packet reported.
“There’s been some very hurtful and very large distribution papers that have said extremely negative things about South Carolina, and Myrtle Beach in particular, but we cannot allow that to lie,” Karen Riordan, Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce CEO and president, said in a July 14 City Council meeting. “The last time we checked this is a worldwide pandemic; it just seems to me to be a step backwards to be blaming one state.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 3:44 PM with the headline "‘Terrible killer’ from the South. WV governor blames Myrtle Beach for COVID-19 spread."