“Nobody Is Wearing a Mask”: How West Virginia Is Responding to the Coronavirus

All photos by Carol Terwilliger unless otherwise noted

Coronavirus has shrouded the world in darkness. I stare out the window from my perch in Brooklyn, New York—at the shuttered Subway, the abandoned storefronts, the accumulated filth of the unswept street—as I feel my own throat constricting, and terror sets in. I’ve been wearing a mask and washing my hands obsessively; apparently it wasn’t enough. I realize now—perhaps too late—that we live in a world forever transformed by a frighteningly infectious virus. 

Amazingly, there are still places in America untouched by COVID-19. As of this writing, April 11, there are still no confirmed cases in Ritchie County, West Virginia. I called up my friend Carol who lives in Ritchie County’s biggest town, Harrisville. According to Carol, virtually no one is wearing masks and there are folks who may not even know about coronavirus yet. Hearing about Harrisville was like entering a time machine back to 3 weeks ago. It’s a last glimpse into a more naive time.

Carol, thanks for speaking to Countere. Tell us about where you live.

I live in Harrisville, West Virginia. The population here is about 4,000 people. It’s north-central West Virginia. Harrisville is in between Parkersburg to the west, which has about 47,000 people, and Clarksburg to the east.

Would you say Harrisville is isolated?

Oh yeah. It’s just backwards as shit. Pretty representative of West Virginia, honestly. It's not a bad little town though. There's some towns that are a lot more run down than this one.

Has coronavirus hit Harrisville yet?

Well, what’s interesting is that West Virginia was the last state that didn't have any cases until just a couple weeks ago. And interestingly enough, the county I live in—Ritchie County—still has none.

So there's no cases here. But it's only a matter of time—there’s counties on either side of us that have coronavirus.

[West Virginia’s Scott McClanahan Is the Last Great American Author]

Are people in Harrisville taking coronavirus safety seriously?

Well, let me tell you. Yesterday I went to Family Dollar, and I was asking them what they were doing [for the pandemic] and all they said was the “six foot rule.” And I asked them—‘you’re not having your employees wear masks?’ And they got defensive real quick.

I went to the Shop ‘n Save afterwards. I was talking to one of the cashiers, and then I went to the back of the store where the deli is. They said they aren’t required to wear masks. They said there were masks available, but it’s left up to their discretion.

The whole day, I went to the courthouse, the attorney’s office, Berdine’s Five & Dime, a gas station, all the places in Harrisville and Cairo (the neighboring town). I saw probably 75 people. And I only saw one person wearing a mask. It was a 50-year-old woman. That’s it. One person.

Some places are closed—the Chinese restaurant and the gambling house is closed permanently—and some restaurants are only open for takeout. But oh gosh—when I drove by the Subway yesterday, people were eating inside, sitting down, acting like everything’s normal.

Have you been taking this seriously?

Yeah. I’ve been wearing a mask and gloves consistently for weeks. I might have been the first person in the area to wear a mask. The first time I went to Shop n’ Save wearing the gloves and mask, people were laughing at me. Like I was a spectacle. Are they still laughing? No. 

With the health issues I have, if I get an upper respiratory thing, I'm going to wind up in the hospital. I have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and emphysema. I also have a defibrillator and a pacemaker. I only have one kidney. And the last place I want to go is to the frickin’ hospital. 

How is West Virginia responding to the coronavirus overall?

Conservatively.

The governor has made some rulings for the state. But they’re not well detailed—you know, “stay at home, wash your hands.” No one wants to mandate anything. And a lot people that aren’t well-informed are making decisions. 

People here aren’t the brightest bulbs in the box. They’re not that astute about current events. They drop out of school, they don’t graduate. There is a lot of inbreeding, for real. And then we have meth here. Nobody wants to smoke meth by themselves. You know how that goes. 

I'm not saying that there aren't some intelligent people around here. There are—but they've lived here all their lives. They may have gone to Ohio to visit somebody once. The truth is that there’s not much intellectual capacity. They’re the type that has blinders on—they think they’re immune. That this [coronavirus] is just a bunch of hype.  

West Virginia, 2017. Photo credit: Zachary Schwartz

West Virginia is a beautiful state, but it’s a very closed cultural atmosphere. And there’s a lot of backwards-type people. I would like to think that in the bigger cities—Parkersburg, Clarksburg—they’re taking coronavirus seriously. But at this point in time, from what I’ve observed, they’re not taking it seriously. Nobody is wearing a mask. 

Overall, the numbers for West Virginia are still low. I did hear a projection though—they said that West Virginia was going to reach its peak cases on May 4th or 5th. But I think it’ll peak past that [date] and get much bigger. 

{We Interviewed a 10-Year-Old About Coronavirus]

Why do you think it’ll peak past the anticipated date?

This is going to move slowly through West Virginia, because people are really spread around. I imagine it’ll move quicker in Parkersburg or Clarksburg. But there are so many people that live out in B.F.E.—“Bum-fuck Egypt.” They call it B.F.E. and that basically describes someone who lives way out rural.

I used to work for the Census in West Virginia, and I went places that I never even imagined.  I’ve been out to the very far reaches of The B.F.E.—going on roads that would make your hair stand on end. God knows the last time somebody had even been on that road.

And when you find the place, they’re the nicest people, living in a rundown shack: chickens for eggs, a vegetable garden, apple trees. They live very self-sufficiently. And they’re recluses on top of it.

In fact, I did a presentation about the opioids crisis for the Women's Club a couple of years ago. It was probably about 12 women, all older than me. And none of them had ever even heard of the opioid epidemic. So there are people in West Virginia that don’t even know about coronavirus. That’s entirely possible.

Wow. 

Yeah. We were the last state to get hit. But I think we’re just getting started.

Carol Terwilliger is also an activist against ‘body brokering’ in the opioid crisis. Follow her work here.