WEST UNION, W.Va. (AP) — Many in West Virginia proudly say they live in the original social distancing state. The coronavirus often seemed like a distant phenomenon best viewed on a TV screen in living rooms in the remote mountain towns that dot the state's expanses of wilderness. But as another surge of COVID-19 grows across the nation, the global pandemic is hitting home in Doddridge County. An unexpected jump in virus cases two weeks ago in the north-central West Virginia county upended the lives of its 8,400 residents, temporarily shutting down schools, football games and cross-country meets. “People said it wasn’t real,” said Victoria Gains, a librarian in the county seat of West Union, which has a population of about 800.