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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER AND LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Gov. Ralph Northam is considering whether to delay raising Virginia's minimum wage and postpone pay increases for public employees as the state wrestles with a coronavirus pandemic that could drain more than $2 billion from its coffers over the next two years. The crisis will cost Virginia hundreds of millions of dollars this fiscal year, which ends June 30, and is likely to carve $1 billion from each year of the two-year budget the General Assembly approved last month, Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne said.
By GREGORY J. GILLIGAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Virginia has logged more jobless claims in the past two weeks than it did for all of 2019 as efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus took a toll on the state’s economy. The state reported a record 112,487 in weekly jobless benefit claims, soaring 143% for the period ending March 28 compared with the record-setting levels from the previous week ...
By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press
A Virginia long-term care facility with one of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreaks announced Thursday that its death toll had reached 16 as new testing confirmed roughly two-thirds of its residents have COVID-19. The Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in suburban Richmond tested all its residents earlier this week after the virus began sweeping through the facility in mid-March, a time when limited supplies and strict policies on who could be tested meant such a response was not possible.
By MARIE ALBIGES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
President Donald Trump has declared that a major disaster exists in Virginia, a move that releases federal funds to help the state combat the coronavirus pandemic. The White House said in a news release Thursday money would be available for the state, tribal groups, eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures related to COVID-19.
The Virginia Public Access Project
Data from the Virginia Department of Health shows a timeline of the number of confirmed COVID-19 and a statewide map showing the number of cases by locality. Updated each morning shortly after 9:00 a.m.
By JANE HARPER, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Emergency Room doctor Kathleen Anderson was working a shift at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital last week when a woman with a severe nose bleed came in. Normally, Anderson would have donned a yellow isolation gown to protect herself, but those are in short supply and high demand these days.
By MALLORY NOE-PAYNE, WVTF
With people losing jobs and having to stay home they’re at greater risk than ever of not having access to food. Virginia officials say there’s been a 20 to 50-percent spike in visits to food banks since the outbreak of COVID-19. Now a movement is taking root in Richmond to help people grow their own.
The Full Report
53 articles, 28 publications
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By DAVID HOLTZMAN, Central Virginian
Pressure is building on Virginia’s Democratic Party legislators to scale back some of the gains they made in the 2020 General Assembly session, as the reality of the coronavirus pandemic begins to weigh on state and local budgets. Several Republican state senators, including Louisa County Sen. Bryce Reeves, asked Gov. Ralph Northam in a March 31 letter to amend or veto bills that “increased taxes or fees, added regulation, or placed new limits on free commerce and economic growth.”
By TREVOR METCALFE, Inside Business
Long after the economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus has subsided, legislation making its way through Richmond could be affecting businesses in the Commonwealth. When Virginia Democrats took control of all three chambers of government in November, they began to push several legislative priorities, including several pieces of pro-worker legislation that business leaders said would hurt small businesses.
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press
Nearly 115,000 Virginians filed for unemployment benefits last week, more than doubling the already unprecedented figures from the previous week as the coronavirus continues to stall economic activity. The jobless claims over the last two weeks now equal those filed over a full three months during the worst stretch of the Great Recession more than a decade ago.
By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The Virginia Department of Corrections is considering a plan to reopen a vacant prison in Culpeper County to house state prisoners — and possibly inmates from local jails, too — who become infected with COVID-19 if the number of sick inmates becomes overwhelming.
By GARY A. HARKI, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
As state health commissioner, Dr. Norman Oliver is one of the officials leading Virginia’s fight against the coronavirus. Part of his job is overseeing community health services and the department’s public health and preparedness division. He’s involved in everything from trying to predict when the virus will surge and how much strain it will put on public health services to trying to get the equipment that will be needed when it happens.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Two employees at the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Chesterfield County and a youth in a “contracted facility” have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Department of Juvenile Justice. The two employees at Bon Air were in close contact with one another but had limited contact with youths and were asymptomatic when they last reported to work.
By MARGARET MATRAY, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
To combat the spread of coronavirus, Gov. Ralph Northam this week ordered Virginians to stay at home except for limited reasons, including going out to get food, seek medical care, do essential work and exercise. You could be charged with a class 1 misdemeanor, which can carry up to a year in jail, for violating parts of the order.
By JUSTIN FAULCONER, Amherst New Era Progress
U.S. Rep. Ben Cline, R-6th, has announced his nomination for a second term as the Republican candidate for the Sixth congressional district, which includes Amherst County. Cline, who succeeded former Rep. Bob Goodlatte and previously represented parts of Amherst County in the House 24 seat in the Virginia House of Delegates for more than a decade.
By BRIDGET BALCH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
A trade group representing emergency physicians in Virginia is condemning actions by medical staffing groups to cut salaries and benefits for health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic. Propublica reported Tuesday that Alteon Health, a medical staffing company that works with more than 125 locations nationwide, including several in Virginia, would be reducing hours ...
By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury
Bath County has so far been spared any confirmed cases of COVID-19, but its economy is already taking one of the biggest hits. The Omni Homestead Resort is the sparsely populated county’s largest employer, and last month the luxury retreat closed its doors and laid off most of its workers. Bath now leads the state in new unemployment claims per capita, with nearly 8 percent of residents filing jobless claims over the last two weeks.
By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Ongoing financial pressures and safety concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to employee furloughs at Ballad Health, although no decisions have yet been announced. At a news briefing on Thursday, Ballad CEO Alan Levine said the regional health system is facing a sharp drop in revenue due to the postponement of elective procedures and large declines in patient volumes as facilities prepare for a surge of coronavirus cases.
By DREW HANSEN, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)
Two of Greater Washington’s largest public companies are borrowing huge sums of money to keep cash on hand as they weather the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic. DXC Technology Co. said Wednesday it is borrowing an additional $2.5 billion from an existing credit facility on top of the $1.5 billion it said it was taking out on March 24.
By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The Richmond Economic Development Authority established a $1 million loan program Thursday for small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, which the EDA is cash funding, will allow qualifying Richmond businesses to borrow up to $20,000 to pay employees for the next six months.
By MATTHEW KORFHAGE, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
During the coronavirus crisis, restaurants have been forced to close their dining rooms, moving to takeout, delivery and curbside only. Looking for a list of more than 500 takeout options? Go here. (And if you’re a restaurant who wants to get your takeout options on that list, go here.) But many restaurants, whether for business or safety reasons, have closed down entirely during the crisis — to reopen when the pandemic subsides, or when they figure out a new business model to weather the storm.
By CONNIE MORRISON, Eastern Shore Post
Even though he works in isolation, Chincoteague waterman Jim Dawson says he and other fishermen are feeling the effects of COVID-19. Dawson, one of Virginia’s largest sea bass harvesters, says markets for fresh fish have dried up leaving him with nowhere to sell his product. Black sea bass is popular in U.S. markets catering to Asian cuisine, but because U.S. food markets were impacted by Feb. 1, “Nobody wanted to buy anything because nobody was coming out to eat,” Dawson said.
By GASPARD LE DEM, WAMU
When COVID-19 began spreading across the U.S., David Giusti assumed it would be a slow year for his Northern Virginia farm. The economy was heading into a nosedive and business wasn’t looking good for his community-supported, or CSA, operation, which provides produce for customers across the D.C. region. “Nobody was signing up in the early part of March,” Giusti says of his Second Spring Farm, a 5-acre site in Purcellville, Va. But as the crisis evolved into a full-blown pandemic, people started signing up.
By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE
Many businesses have been forced to close under an emergency order issued by Gov. Ralph Northam last week. But liquor is still flying off the shelves at Virginia’s ABC Stores, which Northam classified as essential businesses. Northam is in good company; liquor stores in 49 states and Washington D.C. have remained open during stay-at-home orders caused by the COID-19 pandemic, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, an industry group. Pennsylvania, the lone holdout, began offering online sales on Wednesday after a surge in liquor sales in neighboring states.
By MATTHEW PERRONE, Associated Press
U.S. business regulators are suing to break up the multibillion-dollar deal between tobacco giant Altria and e-cigarette startup Juul Labs, saying their partnership amounted to an agreement not to compete in the U.S. vaping market. The action announced late Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission is the latest legal headwind against Altria’s investment in the embattled vaping company.
By BEN FINLEY, Associated Press
A company that makes fish-oil supplements will keep its certification for sustainable fishing despite defiance of catch limits in the Chesapeake Bay. The Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainability marker is prominently displayed on seafood packages in grocery stores. It means a company catches fish from a healthy population and leaves little impact on the food chain, among other factors. Maintaining the designation is a victory for Omega Protein.
By JORDAN PASCALE AND MARGARET BARTHEL, WAMU
Metro’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the agency’s fiscal year 2021 budget on Thursday, but major questions remain about its implementation as the agency reacts to the coronavirus outbreak. “It’s sort of surreal to be even doing the budget at this point,” said Loudoun County Supervisor Matt Letourneau, who represents Virginia on the board. The board cast their votes remotely.
By ALEXA DOIRON & JULIA MARSIGLIANO, Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily (Metered paywall - 3 articles per month)
Hundreds of people have lost their jobs or been furloughed from county employees and hospital staff to Busch Gardens staff and restaurant workers. As the coronavirus continues to spread across the Peninsula, some employers such as the College of William & Mary, Christopher Newport University and Thomas Nelson Community College will continue to pay their staff.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
On a day when President Donald Trump declared a major disaster in Virginia, the number of deaths and COVID-19 cases soared at a Henrico County nursing facility at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
By KATE ANDREWS, Virginia Business
Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center was slow to accept Henrico County’s help at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak that has left 16 residents dead and 108 people positive at the facility, Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas said during a news conference Thursday evening. “We have respected their autonomy and offered them support,” said Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas. “There is a real lesson to be learned from this example going forward. … We knocked on the door initially, and the reaction was not positive at Canterbury. That changed in a matter of days.”
By STAFF REPORT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
President Donald Trump on Thursday approved a major disaster declaration for Virginia stemming from COVID-19. The White House said in a news release that Trump “ordered federal assistance to supplement commonwealth, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic beginning on January 20, 2020, and continuing.”
By ANTONIO OLIVO, JENNA PORTNOY AND FENIT NIRAPPIL, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Washington-area leaders slammed the Trump administration Thursday over significant shortfalls in the number of hospital ventilators, respirator masks, gloves and other supplies delivered from a national stockpile to help combat the fast-spreading novel coronavirus. Virginia, Maryland and the District received just a fraction of the equipment they requested from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, ... according to documents released Thursday by the House oversight committee.
By NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
The University of Virginia is providing clinical trials for a potential medication for COVID-19. UVa announced that it is joining a national clinical trial for remdesivir on Thursday. Trial data will be gathered from an estimated 440 participants worldwide.
By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury
For more than a week, it’s technically been unlawful for Virginians to gather in groups of 10 or more people. But since Gov. Ralph Northam issued his main executive order on March 23 to stop the spread of COVID-19, state court records show just two cases of people being formally charged for violating social distancing rules, though those records may not reflect all citations.
By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Several floors within the new gleaming six-story tower at the University of Virginia Medical Center will come online sooner than expected as hospital officials plan for an increase in patients related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first group of additional beds in the tower will be available later this week, said Eric Swensen, a spokesman for the hospital.
South Boston News & Record
Anticipating a spike in COVID-19 cases in Virginia, VCU Health has asked to reopen the idled Community Memorial Healthcenter facility in South Hill for the intake of patients infected by the virus — a move that will create 130 licensed patient beds.
By LISA VERNON SPARKS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Staffers at the Hampton VA Medical Center put out a call for personal protection equipment. The American Federation of Government Workers, Local 2328 tweeted Wednesday that “staff are desperate for PPE. If anyone has extra N95s, please reach out."
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
Such were the expectations for the Navy hospital ship U.S.N.S. Comfort that when it chugged into New York Harbor this week, throngs of people, momentarily forgetting the strictures of social distancing, crammed together along Manhattan’s west side to catch a glimpse. On Thursday, though, the huge white vessel, which officials had promised would bring succor to a city on the brink, sat mostly empty, infuriating executives at local hospitals. The ship’s 1,000 beds are largely unused, its 1,200-member crew mostly idle.
By URIAH KISER, Potomac Local (Subscription Required)
Anyone can file a Freedom of Information Act request. ... In Prince William County, things have changed as the county’s school division says it has temporarily suspended all FOIA requests following Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s emergency declaration on March 12.
By JILL PALERMO, Prince William Times
Thousands of Prince William County high school students without computers at home will receive new laptops in early May to help them participate in online lessons planned to begin in mid-April, Superintendent Steven Walts announced Wednesday night.
By ALI ROCKETT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Douglas Johnson Jr. is waiting. Inside the Richmond City Justice Center, there’s not much else to do. “It’s only a matter of time before an outbreak gets there,” his attorney, Ashley Shapiro with the Richmond Public Defenders office, said at a recent bond hearing, referencing the global COVID-19 pandemic. That’s the grim prognosis most criminal justice experts have for local jails and state or federal prisons...
By JIM MCCONNELL, Chesterfield Observer
Spirits were high as the Board of Supervisors and senior staff convened in a fifth-floor conference room at the county administration building for a March 11 work session on Chesterfield County’s fiscal year 2021 budget. The local revenue forecast was aggressive, anchored by a roaring economy, record-low unemployment and yet another year of significant increases in residential property assessments.
By JESSICA NOLTE, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Trash and recycling will not be collected this Friday in Virginia Beach because the city’s Department of Public Health is investigating after a Waste Management employee tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily (Metered paywall - 3 articles per month)
For those without access to WiFi, the Williamsburg Regional Library is coming to the rescue. The Williamsburg Regional Library announced Thursday it would be starting a new initiative to supply WiFi hotspots throughout the area.
By ALISON GRAHAM, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Roanoke County will keep its greenways open, but will close playgrounds and remove equipment to prevent park users from congregating amid the coronavirus pandemic. Salem and Vinton also will keep their greenways open, in contrast to Roanoke, where paved greenways close Friday morning. Roanoke County Administrator Dan O’Donnell said in a virtual news conference Thursday that the county did not see a surge in people using the greenways last weekend, so did not see a need to close the trails
By PATTY HARDEE, Rappahannock News (Metered Paywall)
The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors, in an emergency meeting Monday night, addressed ways to restrict hundreds if not thousands of tourists and motorcyclists who for two weekends in a row overwhelmed the county’s roads, the few businesses that remain open, and backcountry trails.
By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee
Though the State Board of Elections has yet to provide official guidance for registrars in wake of the novel coronavirus, the Pittsylvania County registrar is asking residents to vote by mail with an absentee ballot for the Democratic and Republican primaries June 9. This is so voters “aren’t choosing between voting and risking their own health,” said Pittsylvania County Registrar Kelly Keesee.
By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee
Amid swirling uncertainty about additional expenses and lost revenues resulting from measures taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors approved the 2020-21 budget Thursday. In the next three months, however, Pittsylvania County Administrator David Smitherman has the authority to make changes based on losses in income and extra expenses that result from the coronavirus. And some changes are imminent.
By STAFF REPORT, Northern Neck News
Richmond County is trying a new route to expand internet access by participating in a pilot project that’s supposed to deliver broadband to 100 percent of unserved households in the Northern Neck. Known as a middle mile initiative, this pilot includes Dominion Virginia Power, Northern Neck Electric and an internet service provider called All Points Broadband Partners.
By JOE TENNIS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Five candidates are competing for two seats in the upcoming Abingdon Town Council election. And, due to health concerns, it appears the number of absentee ballots is on the rise, said election official Derek Lyall.
By ALLEN WORRELL, Carroll News
County Attorney Stephen Durbin opened the discussion at the board of supervisors’ March 23 meeting about a proposed emergency ordinance. ... “Unfortunately, the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which governs all of your meetings, your public documents, and the conduct of public business, was not really designed with an outbreak of this nature in mind,” Durbin told Carroll supervisors.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Here's why Northam's order goes through June 10. One August day in 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II addressed the German troops who were leaving for the front lines of the new war that was at that moment tearing a gash through Luxembourg and Belgium on its way to France. The Kaiser was in a jaunty mood. The great German army would be no match for the French. “You will be home before the leaves fall from the trees,” he assured his troops.
Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
VIRGINIA Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran said that the Virginia Parole Board is busy reviewing hundreds of cases to see if certain prisoners—specifically, geriatric inmates or those who were sentenced before 1996—can be released early in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Moran added that the releases must be “consistent with public safety,” and that only “low-level offenders” would be considered...
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The news from Tuesday’s coronavirus task force briefing at the White House hit like a ton of bricks. Modeling now suggests that if the United States imposed strict mitigation measures, including a nationwide state-at-home order and complete commitment to social distancing, COVID-19 will still kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
On March 7, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) confirmed the commonwealth’s first case of COVID-19 at Fort Belvoir. In a press release, officials said the risk was low and there was no evidence of COVID-19 spreading in Virginia.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The economic forecast is bleak. In the latest grim report from the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. That’s double the number of people who filed claims the previous week — and that was a record.
By STEPHEN NASH, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
One of my doctors passed an anguished milestone this week: his first positive test for coronavirus came in. Of course, he told me, his first thoughts were for the distressed patient as they talked things through. But not long after came this forceful thought: the pandemic need not have happened. Roanoke County’s first case has also been reported. Time and leadership matter: a doctor in Wuhan, China, the late Li Wenliang, warned of the outbreak on Dec. 30 ...
Nash is a visiting senior research scholar at the University of Richmond. He is the author of Virginia Climate Fever,
By JC HERNANDEZ, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the benefits of telemedicine in a way no advocacy group ad campaign or think tank white paper could ever do. Governments have reacted, with both Richmond and Washington relaxing some — though far from all — of the antiquated rules that act as barriers to the use of telemedicine as a tool fight the pandemic.
JC Hernandez is state director of Americans for Prosperity-Virginia.
By KRISTEN AMUNDSON, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
On March 23, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that Virginia’s public schools would not reopen until next fall. Virginia is not alone — to date, eight states have closed schools for the 2019-20 school year. Virtually overnight, schools and families have gone from the traditional teacher-in-classroom model of learning to the kids-at-home-on-the-couch model.
Kristen Amundson is the former chair of the Fairfax County School Board and a former member of the Virginia General Assembly
By MARK O’CONNELL, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
We were around a hundred miles from the Zone, and already my thoughts had turned toward death. This had nothing to do with radiation and everything to do with road safety. I was in a minibus, on a highway between Kyiv and the 1,160-square-mile Exclusion Zone around the Chernobyl power plant. The minibus was being driven at an alarming speed and in such a way that caused me to question the safety standards of the tour company I’d entrusted myself to for the next two days.
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