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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, FENIT NIRAPPIL AND ERIN COX, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan unveiled “blueprints” Friday for eventually bringing their states out of the shutdowns imposed to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic, pledging to work with business leaders and coordinate across the region to chart a cautious path. They also made it clear that things are still far from returning to normal.
By RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Virginia has seen a flattening of the curve, as the numbers of people infected with COVID-19 in the state has begun to stabilize, but it’s too soon to loosen restrictions in place, said Dr. Laurie Forlano, deputy commissioner for population health for the state health department. Forlano on Friday said that the state is following different projection models and anticipates Virginia will reach its peak for the first wave of the disease in the coming weeks, but that they don’t know exactly when it will happen.
By KATE ANDREWS, Va Business Magazine
Colleges and universities in Virginia are discussing options for their fall semesters, which will probably be like nothing the state has seen before due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Friday, April 24, none of Virginia’s higher education institutions — public or private — has announced firm plans for the coming fall semester.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The Virginia Department of Corrections said Friday that it will identify inmates eligible for early release and notify those who have been approved. On Wednesday, the General Assembly approved Gov. Ralph Northam’s budget amendment that authorizes the Department of Corrections to consider early release for inmates with less than one year left to serve while Northam’s COVID-19 emergency declaration is in effect.
By RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday that he was issuing an executive order to delay local May elections by two weeks. The elections for city and town councils, mayors, county boards or school boards in several localities across the state — including Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News and Williamsburg — were scheduled for May 5.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
It was supposed to be a historic year for education funding in Virginia. Then the coronavirus pandemic happened. The budget amendments approved this week by the General Assembly approved wiped away funding for issues long sought in education in favor of a more conservative plan that paused new spending to help address the fallout of the public health crisis.
By STAFF REPORT, WRIC
A Chesterfield church, suspected of holding in-persons services in violation of Gov. Ralph Northam’s executive order, has received a warning from county police. Officer responded to Mt. Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries to investigate the claim and spoke with a member of the church’s leadership team. The church, however, was not cited. The officers provided a copy of the executive order and explained “they were seeking compliance,” a spokesperson with Chesterfield County Police told 8News.
The Full Report
30 articles, 16 publications
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The Virginia Public Access Project
Data from the Virginia Department of Health shows a timeline of COVID-19 cases and statewide map showing the number of cases and deaths by locality. VPAP has added daily hospital utilization data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. Updated each morning shortly after 9:00 a.m.
The Virginia Public Access Project
Here's an interactive map showing the 16 cities and 99 towns where municipal elections will be delayed two weeks. They range in size from the City of Chesapeake in Hampton Roads (153,673 registered voters) to the Town of Clinchport in Southwest Virginia (41 voters).
By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The percentage of positive COVID-19 patients and hospitalizations from the coronavirus will have to decrease for 14 days straight before Virginia can hope to enter what Gov. Ralph Northam is calling “phase one” of a plan to slowly reopen Virginia. At a press conference in Richmond on Friday, Northam said he eventually wants health officials to be able to test 10,000 people a day and ramp up the state’s ability to effectively track where the virus has spread — known as contact tracing — as businesses begin to reopen with certain restrictions.
By MEL LEONOR, BRIDGET BALCH AND PAUL WHELAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Virginia will begin to lift public restrictions once the percentages of positive tests per day and hospitalizations show sustained decline over 14 consecutive days, state officials said Friday. The guidelines are part of the state’s plan for emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, outlined by Gov. Ralph Northam amid calls for a return to normalcy by some in the business community and the GOP.
By ALAN SUDERMAN AND DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press
Virginia is still at least two weeks away from allowing nonessential businesses to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday during a news conference. The Democratic governor’s remarks come as some governors in other southern states take moves to reopen businesses and some Republican lawmakers in Virginia called on Northam to take action to “get as close to normal as possible without sacrificing public health.”
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Gov. Ralph Northam is postponing the May 5 municipal elections by two weeks out of concern about people voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic. Northam announced Friday he signed an executive order moving the elections to May 19 after his first proposal — to delay them to November — didn’t get approval by the state Senate this week.
By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Friday signed Executive Order 59, which pushes back the May 5 local elections to May 19 for 56 localities across the commonwealth. The governor previously moved the June primary elections from June 9 to June 23. Two weeks is the longest the governor can constitutionally delay the election without the General Assembly.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Local elections across Virginia will move from May 5 to May 19 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday. Northam scolded the state Senate during his regular COVID-19 news briefing for not agreeing to his amendment Wednesday that would have shifted local elections to the November ballot.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Virginia students will not have to take Standards of Learning tests in the fall when they are expected to return to school, the state’s K-12 schools chief said Friday. James Lane, the superintendent of public instruction, said he has told superintendents across the state that the idea has been taken off the table.
By ADRIENNE MAYFIELD, WAVY
A Virginia Beach congresswoman showed her gratitude toward the media in a letter to President Donald Trump....Luria urged Trump and his administration to support local media, which is suffering the loss of advertising revenue even as viewership and readership have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This national emergency has caused a near halt to local business activity and in turn, the regular and vital advertising they purchase from local media. Without advertising revenue, local media outlets cannot survive,” Luria wrote.
By TREVOR BARATKO, Loudoun Times
The Loudoun Economic Development Authority on Thursday approved an additional $250,000 in grant funding to assist small businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. County officials say more than 18,000 jobs have been lost in Loudoun in the past four weeks, including more than 78 percent of all restaurant and retail positions.
By JEFF CLABAUGH, WTOP
Vienna, Virginia-based Creative Hairdressers Inc., whose salons include Hair Cuttery, Bubbles and Salon Cielo, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is selling off substantial assets, including the majority of its salon locations, to HC Salon Holdings Inc.
By DON DEL ROSSO, Fauquier Now
The Northern Virginia couple planned to elope and exchange vows March 24 in New Orleans. But COVID-19 put the kibosh on that, recalled Anna Cole, who lives with her husband Bryce and their two children in Oakton. . . . So the couple moved quickly to explore alternatives. As it turned out, they got married March 21 — three days before the planned New Orleans date — at Ciao Bella Celebrations at 18 Ashby St. in downtown Warrenton.
By CATHERINE DOUGLAS MORAN, Reston Now
Fairfax County has had a recent jump in COVID-19 deaths as the number of cases continues to rise in the county and statewide. As of Friday, Fairfax County had 85 deaths due to the respiratory illness, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The cities of Fairfax and Falls Church have both reported two deaths.
Fauquier Now
Fauquier County has suffered its second death attributed to COVID-19, the Virginia Department of Health reported Friday morning. The department does not disclose demographic information about patients, including those who die. Fauquier experienced its first death from the virus April 7, when an 80-year-old man died at Fauquier Hospital.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Henrico County is narrowly ahead of Fairfax County in deaths from COVID-19 in the state, even though the Northern Virginia locality is the largest in the commonwealth and has confirmed three times as many cases of the coronavirus disease. The difference is Henrico has a heavy concentration of long-term care facilities — nursing homes, assisted living facilities, memory care units and independent retirement communities — that account for 78 of the 86 deaths from the virus in the county.
By JONATHAN EDWARDS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
An outbreak of the coronavirus is spreading inside the Norfolk jail. Thirty-two inmates and staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, a number that is almost certain to shoot up as more of the roughly 670 inmates and 380 deputies are tested.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Nights were hardest for Candace Williams, who, fearing dying in her sleep, stayed awake, feverish, waiting and hoping for dawn. Williams, inmate #1414048 at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women in Goochland County, believes she was the first of Virginia’s prison inmates to be tested for COVID-19 and among the first three diagnosed with the virus.
By JULIA MARSIGLIANO, Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily (Metered paywall - 3 articles per month)
Dr. Steve Julian, acting director of the Peninsula Health District, said the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) positive cases are still increasing in James City County and he does not think the locality has peaked yet.
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
While confirmed COVID-19 cases continue to rise locally, there’s also been a slight dip in the number of virus-sickened patients in need of hospital care. For two days this week—Wednesday and Thursday—the number of COVID-19 patients in the Fredericksburg area’s three hospitals stayed the same, according to the Rappahannock Area Health District. As of Friday, 19 patients remained hospitalized, among 75 people in the local health district whose conditions were severe enough to warrant admission.
By RACHEL MAHONEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Among local jail inmates filing for release during the COVID-19 pandemic are older individuals and those with health conditions — people who medical experts say are the most vulnerable to serious illness and death caused by the novel coronavirus and resulting disease.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Gaby Obedoza saw an idea online and immediately knew her peers would be interested. Medical school students across the country who, like Obedoza, were having virtual classes instead of in-person ones had decided to use the time at home to help the greater fight against COVID-19. They could not yet suit up in white robes, but they could help the people who can.
By ERICA GREENWAY, WTKR
Accidental poisonings are up across the country as more people use cleaning products and sanitizers. The CDC is reporting a 20 percent increase compared to last year. In Virginia specifically, the poison center has also seen a big increase in calls.
By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is still targeting a completion date of late this year, a spokeswoman said Friday, despite reports of the suspension of a nationwide program needed to grant a key permit it lacks.
ArlNow
Arlington residents will select a new County Board member on July 7, following the resignation of the late Erik Gutshall. Gutshall resigned from the Board just 10 days before passing away from brain cancer on Thursday, April 16.
By NEAL AUGENSTEIN, WTOP
Even as Fairfax County Public Schools struggle to stabilize its live online learning platform in the midst of the coronavirus crisis for the rest of the school year, school leaders realize September isn’t far away. School Superintendent Scott Brabrand told school board members Thursday he has revised his proposed budget to include $2 million for technology infrastructure and support: “That $2 million is only a placeholder, a down payment,” Brabrand said, acknowledging online learning may still be needed in the 2020-2021 school year.
By ALI ROCKETT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Following guidance from the Virginia Supreme Court, Henrico County General District Court began holding preliminary hearings via video this week. It’s the first local court in the Richmond area to implement the technology beyond basic arraignments — video arraignments, or a formal reading of the charges against a defendant, were common even before the COVID-19 pandemic — and bond hearings.
By JAMES SCOTT BARON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
It’s almost as if the state’s stay-at-home order includes a take-out-the-trash clause. One local garbage collector feels that might be the case, and believes two actions last month initiated by Gov. Ralph Northam to help quell the spread of coronavirus may have led to what he sees as a dramatic increase in residential trash collection throughout the region.
By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
For some Virginia legislators, redistricting is a topic as appetizing as Mark Warner’s microwave-zapped tuna melt sandwich: It is not much to look at. It requires stomach-churning ingredients. It leaves a bad taste. And it could get worse. The Trump administration — because, it says, the COVID-19 pandemic is slowing the decennial census — wants to delay turning over results of the head count to the states by four months.
By MATTHEW STRICKLER, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The naturalist John Muir once said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Muir was ahead of his time in understanding the connection between the environment and public health. This week, as we observed the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, our interconnectedness is more apparent than ever.
Matthew Strickler is secretary of natural resources for the commonwealth of Virginia
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