West Virginia asks for congressional probe of county battling HIV outbreak – By Darryl Coote (UPI) / April 5 2021
April 5 (UPI) — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Monday asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to launch a congressional investigation into the “alarming” rate of HIV in Kanawha County.
Manchin submitted the congressional inquiry request in a letter to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, asking her to contact the Kanawha County Commission after reviewing its concerns no later than Friday “[g]iven the pressing public health nature of the issue.”
The inquiry submission came after W. Kent Carper, the commissioner of Kanawha County, which is home to the capital city of Charleston, asked Manchin to make the request following reports that his county has the “most concerning” HIV outbreak in the United States.
“If this premise is correct, a sense of urgency is required,” he wrote in the letter to Manchin.
