It is. Joe Manchin
Senator Joe ManchinGOP is considering Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate. (DW.V.) on Monday sent a congressional inquiry to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to analyze an outbreak of HIV in Kanawha County in his state.
ABC News reports that Manchin requested the investigation on behalf of the Kanawha County Commission after the CDC warned that the HIV outbreak was “the most worrying in the United States.” Between 2014 and 2019, West Virginia HIV cases attributed to intravenous drug use increased by more than 50% from 12.5% to 64.2%, ABC News reported.
Kent Carper, chairman of the Kanawha County Commission, said in a statement that the outbreak “is a major public health issue and deserves to be fully understood.”
During a February meeting with the county’s HIV working group, CDC head of HIV prevention Demetre Daskalakis warned that the current figures could represent the “tip of the iceberg.”
“There are probably several undiagnosed cases in the community. We are concerned that the transmission is ongoing and that the number of people living with HIV will continue to rise unless urgent action is taken, “Daskalakis said.
The outbreak, which focuses mainly on Charleston and Huntington, was partly attributed to the cancellation of a needle exchange program in 2018, which provided drug users with clean needles who could not give up.
Charleston City Council is currently considering an ordinance that would restrict local needle exchange programs, ABC News reported. Sarah Stone, co-founder of Solutions Oriented Addiction Response (SOAR), which provides clean needles in Charleston, told ABC News that the ordinance will close similar programs.