April 19, 2021

Manchin Announces More Than $1.8 Million To Fight COVID-19 Variants In West Virginia

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced West Virginia will receive $1,884,569 from the American Rescue Plan to help fight COVID-19 variants in the state.

“As more and more West Virginians receive the COVID-19 vaccine, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but we must continue to listen to the guidance of medical professionals and the CDC to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and its variants. Several new COVID-19 variants have been found in West Virginia which is concerning because of the higher rate of transmission and mortality. This funding from the American Rescue Plan will help West Virginia identify and track new variants of COVID-19 virus to help us defeat this pandemic. I encourage all West Virginians to do their part to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by socially distancing, wearing masks and getting the COVID-19 vaccine when available,” said Senator Manchin.

Today, new and potentially dangerous strains of COVID-19 make up half of all cases in America. This funding is allocated through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and will be used to help West Virginia more effectively detect and track variants through genomic sequencing, the process by which COVID DNA is decoded and potentially deadly mutations in the virus are detected. This is the first tranche of funding, a second tranche will be invested over the next several years.

To learn more about funding and benefits for West Virginia in the American Rescue Plan, click here.