West Virginia reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, on Tuesday, becoming the 50th state to have one. 

That means almost two months after the first U.S. case of the coronavirus was reported, the country has recorded at least 5,748 cases in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

At least 105 people have died: 54 in Washington state, 12 in New York, 12 in California, six in Florida, four in Louisiana, three in New Jersey, two each in Virginia and Indiana, and one each in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas.

The governor of West Virginia announce the shutdown of restaurants and bars Tuesday, and he appeared chastened as he announced that his state had become the 50th to record a coronavirus case, confirming that COVID-19 has spread nationwide.

Gov. Jim Justice had downplayed the risk as late as Monday night — contradicting or flouting public health experts’ guidance — saying at an evening news conference that, “If you want to go to Bob Evans and eat, go to Bob Evans and eat.”

Justice said Monday night that he thought it was premature to order bars and restaurant to shut down. The Republican repeatedly noted that the federal government had not ordered states to act.

“We’ve got to keep on some way living, and doing what we are doing,” he said.

His tone was markedly different late Tuesday, after the state’s first diagnosis.

“If by chance I left a stone unturned and at the end of the day, in trying to do something to cure an inconvenience, or cure an economic issue, I exposed others to a situation where you lost a loved one, how do we overcome that? How do you replace that? It just can’t be done,” he said.

The Washington Post, The Associated Press and The New York Times contributed.

First Published: March 18, 2020, 1:39 a.m.