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By DEVLIN BARRETT, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Health officials on Virginia's Eastern Shore are increasingly worried that clusters of coronavirus tied to two poultry plants may overwhelm the one local hospital, even as the Trump administration insists such facilities remain open to keep the country fed during the crisis.
By LUANNE RIFE, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
One-third of the test-confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections in the Roanoke Valley have occurred in health care workers. Dr. Molly O’Dell, who is leading the pandemic response for the Roanoke and Alleghany Health Districts, said Tuesday during her weekly briefing that 59 of the 154 cases are in health care workers.
By STAFF REPORT, Inside NOVA (Metered Paywall)
More than 50 Northern Virginia long-term care facilities have reported outbreaks of COVID-19, but public health officials in Northern Virginia are refusing to identify them. In response to Freedom of Information Act requests from InsideNoVa, health officials in two districts, Prince William and Fairfax, said they can’t release specific information about locations of outbreaks — defined as a place in which two or more people have COVID-19.
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced Tuesday an agreement to waive the requirement that a witness sign absentee ballots sent in the mail for the June primaries. According to an order submitted to a federal court, Virginia will accept absentee ballots for the June 23 primaries without the signature of a witness “for voters who believe they may not safely have a witness present while completing their ballot.”
The Virginia Public Access Project
How do Republican and Democratic members of the General Assembly differ when it comes to personal wealth? VPAP mines lawmakers' annual personal financial disclosures to look at rental property, securities holdings, second homes and credit card debt. The snapshot was taken in February, before the coronavirus pandemic.
By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The Virginia Beach Police Department will not release its complete investigative file into last year’s mass shooting when it is likely finished this fall. Instead, the city plans to publish a report summarizing the findings. The announcement is not sitting well with the family of at least one of those who died May 31 in Building 2.
By ELIZA BERKON, WAMU
The weekend parking-lot at the Eden Center in Falls Church can be tough. “You would essentially probably make four or five rounds in your car, and then not find parking there. And then if you travel with somebody, you’d just be like, ‘Look, switch seats. Let me go inside and get what I need,’” says Richard Nguyen, who has been visiting Eden Center since he was a kid, and is now operations manager of Nam-Viet Restaurant a few miles away in Clarendon.
The Full Report
46 articles, 28 publications
Read Online10 Most Clicked
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.
Associated Press
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed an executive order on Tuesday which his office says reinforces some existing liability protections for the state’s health care workers and first responders as they battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
By JOE DASHIELL, WDBJ
Governor Ralph Northam acknowledges the availability of testing is an area that needs attention. He appointed a task force to address the issue. But he says the challenge Virginia faces is not unique. "It's not adequate anywhere," Northam said during a briefing Monday. "It's not adequate anywhere in the country. I think if you talk to other governors you'll hear the same challenges." But Delegate Todd Gilbert, the Republican leader in the House of Delegates, is calling on Northam to explain why Virginia is near the bottom when per-capita testing rates are ranked.
By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE
Virginians could be allowed to cast a mail-in ballot without a witness in the June 23 Congressional primaries if a new deal is approved by a U.S. district court judge. But the Republican Party of Virginia is fighting against the change, which it argues would lead to fraud.
By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury
Roughly 12 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Virginia don’t include information on a patient’s race or ethnicity — a lag in data that some are attributing to the way death certificates are filed with the state’s Office of Vital Records. Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver said that some physicians still aren’t using the state’s electronic death registration system, a now-mandatory network for electronically registering and recording death certificates.
By JACKIE DEFUSCO, WRIC
Inmates and family members who spoke anonymously to 8News say an early release plan proposed by Gov. Ralph Northam gave them false hope. As conditions behind bars are criticized during the COVID-19 pandemic, some say additional criteria set by the Virginia Department of Corrections is making it “impossible” for many eligible inmates to actually get out of prison.
By GARY A. HARKI, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The Hampton Roads Regional Jail, where five of the region’s largest cities send their sickest people for incarceration, has 41 inmates who’ve tested positive for the coronavirus. Jail officials obtained tests from the Portsmouth health department late Friday and tested an entire section of the jail on Saturday because several inmates from that area had already tested positive, said Christopher Walz, the jail’s interim superintendent.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The Department of Juvenile Justice said the spread of COVID-19 in its Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center, where a substantial percentage of such known cases in the U.S. have been identified, has slowed. In a statement Monday, the department said there has been just one new case in the past week, and that no resident has required hospitalization.
By JANE ALVAREZ-WERTZ, WAVY
The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) just launched a mobile app and website designed to be a “one-stop” resource for benefits and information during the coronavirus outbreak. The new COVID-19 Virginia Resources website and app include information about food assistance, child care, health care and other benefits.
By DANIELLA CHESLOW, WAMU
Virginia and Maryland Democratic senators pressed the federal government Tuesday to give a consistent telework policy for federal employees during COVID-19. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia, and Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, joined an effort led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to challenge new White House guidelines that appear to encourage returning federal workers to their offices.
By ADRIENNE MAYFIELD, WAVY
A Virginia senator serving on the Opening Up America Again Congressional Group said the government will have to provide more coronavirus tests to the public and more personal protective equipment to front line workers before the commonwealth will be able to reopen. Both areas of the COVID-19 response will have to improve for Virginia to reopen its local governments, schools, and businesses, said Sen. Mark Warner.
By GREGORY J. GILLIGAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
William “Trey” Owens was elated when he got word Monday that his Soul Taco restaurants in Richmond had received a $3,000 grant to help the budding business stay afloat and continue operating during the coronavirus pandemic. “I had to do everything in my power from screaming in his ear when he told me,” Owens said when he got the phone call from technology entrepreneur Pete Snyder, founder of the Virginia 30 Day Fund.
By SHANNON KELLY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Small businesses in Bedford, many of which are struggling to survive because of the coronavirus pandemic, could receive a boost from a new support program, the town and its Economic Development Authority announced Monday.
By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
One of the New River Valley’s largest manufacturers used a temporary halt in production and its 3-D printing technology to make personal protective equipment for hospitals running low on supplies. A team of employees from the Pulaski County Volvo factory’s innovation lab have been making face shields and face mask clips for medical staff working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Virginia is cutting this year’s Chesapeake Bay menhaden catch by more than 80% from last year’s landings in order to end a federal moratorium. Federal fisheries officials said they’d bar fishing for menhaden in the Bay this year — as long as the fish were headed for Omega Protein’s fish oil and fishmeal plant in Reedville — because the state had not enacted a 41.5% cut to 51,000 tons in Omega’s quota, which had been imposed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2017.
By BEN HITCHCOCK, Cville Weekly
...The Daily Progress has been around since 1892, but coronavirus presents an unprecedented challenge. To help cut costs, the Progress’ corporate ownership has mandated that everyone take an unpaid two-week furlough in the next two months, and some fear worse is still to come. But Progress staffers have a new force in their corner that might help them weather the storm: The Blue Ridge NewsGuild, their newsroom’s union.
By JONATHAN SPIERS, Richmond BizSense
If the nearly empty terminals weren’t enough of an indicator, the latest traffic counts released this week for Richmond International Airport show a clearer picture of the impact of coronavirus travel restrictions....RIC spokesman Troy Bell said the year-to-year difference for April is expected to be even more staggering when released in May, with nearly half of remaining flights – those that remained after airline service reductions – cancelled within 48 hours of departure.
By YASMINE JUMAA, WCVE
GRTC bus operations were back to normal on Tuesday, following Monday’s driver ‘sick-out’ and CEO Julie Timm’s threat to fire those on strike. But the union representing the drivers says it still has unmet demands. In a letter sent to GRTC’s CEO, the union’s list of demands included hazard pay for frontline workers at one-and-a-half times their normal rate and the implementation of a 10-passenger limit.
By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Employees at the University of Virginia Medical Center will be furloughed and others will take a 20% pay cut as the UVA Health System seeks to shore up its finances following a drastic drop in surgeries and clinic visits.
By BRIDGET BALCH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Virginia Commonwealth University is making plans to reconvene in-person classes this fall and the VCU Health System is planning to again accept more patients, but much remains in the air as public health guidance continues to change surrounding COVID-19, VCU said Tuesday.
By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Radford University will reopen on Aug. 3, President Brian Hemphill announced Tuesday. The reopening will include full operations, such as on-campus housing and dining services, followed by face-to-face instruction beginning on Aug. 24, he wrote in a campus-wide statemen
By ALLISON SCANLAN, Fourth Estate
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed bills HB 510 and HB 1529 on March 2 and April 6, respectively, both of which aim to increase accountability between universities and students. . . . HB 1529 requires universities to retain copies of donor agreements that can be accessible for public view under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). HB 510 enforces that the exclusion in FOIA does not apply to protecting anonymity of donor names when there are academic strings attached.
By MARYANN XUE, Cavalier Daily
After the release of their new V-sabre mark Thursday, Virginia Athletics is facing controversy regarding a component of the design that references the University’s past use of enslaved labor. The new logo includes details on the sabre handles that were added to mimic the serpentine walls on Grounds that surround the garden spaces, according to promotional photos from Virginia Athletics.
By RICHARD FOSTER, Va Business Magazine
As global coronavirus cases surpassed the 3 million mark Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health reported 13,794 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the commonwealth, an increase of 736 cases. The largest 24-hour increase since the pandemic began, it breaks a previous record set three days earlier on April 25. The 13,794 cases do not include an additional 545 probable cases.
By FATIMAH WASEEM, Reston Now
More than 100 people in Fairfax County have died as a result of COVID-19, according to state data. As of Tuesday, 114 people in the county died from the respiratory illness. The number of total cases — 3,278 — continues to rise.
By STAFF REPORT, Loudoun Times
Loudoun County has 688 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The 60-case increase from Monday’s reporting is the largest single-day spike in Loudoun since the pandemic began. No new deaths have been reported.
By LAURA VOZZELLA AND GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Tiffany Smith tilted her head way back, sending her long ponytail almost to her waist and allowing a nurse to stick a cotton swab up one nostril, then another. “Oh, damn!” she said, wiping her nose after undergoing a free coronavirus test in an east Richmond parking lot. “Whoo!” Though she hated how it felt, Smith, 47, had been seeking the nasal swab since she and her husband started having fevers, coughs, sweats and headaches about a week ago.
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Local hospital officials are seeing some encouraging signs that the worst of COVID-19 cases may be over for the Fredericksburg area—at least in this first wave, if there is, indeed, another outbreak later this year. “I think we’re definitely on the downhill stretch, and we’ve definitely passed the peak,” said Dr. Christopher Newman, chief medical officer of Mary Washington Healthcare.
By RANDI B. HAGI, Harrisonburg Citizen
Harrisonburg could be seeing “the light at the end of the tunnel” in the rate of COVID-19 infections, the deputy emergency coordinator reported to city council Tuesday. Paul Helmuth, who has been monitoring the virus since January, said in a presentation at Tuesday’s meeting that since peaking on April 17 with 25 new cases reported that day, the city has had “a continued downward trend in our cases.” That figure was down to six new confirmed cases on Sunday.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Chaplain Julie Gaines Walton has found a new way to minister to people in nursing home care during a deadly war with the coronavirus. She is learning to change beds with frail people lying in them, helping them move to and from wheelchairs, and the other painstaking tasks of caring directly for residents in the health care center at the Lakewood senior living community in western Henrico County.
By RACHAEL SMITH, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
One Lynchburg-area business owner is looking for a new way to entertain people while still keeping them socially distant. “We’ve done various events in the Lynchburg area in the last five years we’ve been open and the idea has been brewing for a while,” said Josh Davies, owner of Nomad Coffee Company. “After the pandemic hit, everywhere that people used to go out and do alone or together got shut down overnight.”
By DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN
Maatje Benassi, a US Army reservist and mother of two, has become the target of conspiracy theorists who falsely place her at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, saying she brought the disease to China. . . . The claims have turned their lives upside down. The couple say their home address has been posted online and that, before they shut down their accounts, their social media inboxes were overrun with messages from believers of the conspiracy.
By NICK IANNELLI, WTOP
The coronavirus pandemic has shut down American life as we know it, but construction remains underway on Amazon’s second headquarters in Northern Virginia and is producing noise that’s frustrating many homebound residents nearby. The Seattle-based online retail giant is building twin 22-story buildings in Pentagon City as part of its project that will eventually draw 25,000 employees to southern Arlington County — an area that’s been branded National Landing.
By JONATHAN CAPRIEL, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)
wants to take over a public park in Pentagon City to stage the construction of its first two office towers. Arlington County is considering it — for a price. The company is asking the Arlington County Board for permission to use about 19,300 square feet of green space dubbed Metropolitan Park for a general contractor's base, medical trailer and pump equipment.
By EMILY SIDES, Inside NOVA (Metered Paywall)
Prince William County will leave the rate on real estate taxes unchanged for the next fiscal year, as the budget reality of the COVID-19 pandemic forced supervisors to ditch new spending and a proposed tax rate increase. More than 25 Prince William County residents who talked remotely to the board of county supervisors Tuesday were divided with many supporting a proposal to keep the real estate tax rate steady in an effort to fund schools and social services, while others said the county should decrease the tax rate as thousands in the county have lost jobs and others face furloughs and an uncertain future amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
By C. SUAREZ ROJAS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Some Henrico County residents who normally cast votes at assisted living centers susceptible to the coronavirus will be directed elsewhere for the upcoming June primary. With retirement communities and long-term care facilities imposing lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19, Henrico’s Director of Elections Mark Coakley is asking the county to temporarily suspend voting at four of its precincts and shift those voters to nearby locations:
By JOSH REYES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Four polling places in Newport News will be closed for the City Council and School Board elections scheduled for May 19. Voters in those precincts will instead vote at polling places in neighboring precincts, according to the city’s registrar’s office.
By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia Beach has received more than $2 million in federal funding to help the homeless and to assist people who are at risk of losing stable housing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday evening, the Virginia Beach City Council unanimously voted during a virtual meeting to appropriate $2 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27.
By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Losses from jobs, hotel room bookings and restaurant closures tied to the coronavirus are adding up in Chesapeake, where council members agreed Tuesday night to slash spending by millions of dollars through the end of the fiscal year. In all, the spending cuts to make up for revenue shortfalls add up to a little more than $29 million, including a nearly $10 million reduction in funding for schools.
By SHANNON KELLY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
The Bedford County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution Monday urging Gov. Ralph Northam to allow the re-opening of local businesses deemed “nonessential” on or before May 8. The resolution largely stems from county leadership’s concerns over the economic impact of business closures throughout Bedford County during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly nonessential small businesses, and the desire for Virginia government to acknowledge regional variances in coronavirus caseloads when requiring nonessential business closures.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Thought experiment: If the coronavirus pandemic were concentrated in Southwest Virginia, would Northern Virginia shut down? That’s a question that answers itself. So why then is the reopening of the Southwest Virginia economy tied to the COVID-19 case count in Northern Virginia (and elsewhere in the urban crescent)?
Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
After issuing executive orders requiring Virginians to stay at home and closing all non-essential businesses in an effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Ralph Northam also tried to delay Virginia’s municipal elections until November. But after the House of Delegates reversed itself and narrowly approved the governor’s plan by just two votes, Republicans and three key Democrats in the state Senate balked.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
When the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, business as usual at colleges and universities was put on hold. Think back to mid-March, when the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s basketball team was forced off the court minutes before a noon tipoff for its first round Atlantic 10 tournament game. That event — and all of March Madness — officially was canceled.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
In the last six weeks, federal lawmakers have approved trillions in spending to fight the spread of coronavirus and alleviate the economic pain associated with the spread of this disease. Not all of it has been well structured, adequately funded or given the necessary oversight to ensure public dollars are appropriately applied.
By WILLIAM LIMPERT, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
I want to thank Attorney General Herring for his recent amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of Virginia citizens. He states “The (ACP) pipeline threatens Virginia’s natural resources with no clear benefits.” New evidence bolsters his argument, and indicates significant threats to the health and safety of Virginia residents near the ACP, and the MVP.
Limpert is a retired environmental regulator who formerly lived in Bath County along the route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. He now lives in Maryland.
By MICHAEL P. MCDERMOTT AND STEVE ARNER, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Making important decisions requires thoughtful evaluation of the real-world implications and the practical effect of those choices. Critical decisions should be data-driven and informed by the best evidence available. For instance, when Virginia hospitals and health care providers took steps in early March to suspend nonemergency medical procedures, those decisions were guided by data modeling that forecast a potential wave of COVID-19 infections which, without precautions in place, could overrun the health care delivery system as the fast-spreading coronavirus did in places like Italy and New York.
McDermott is president and CEO of Mary Washington Health Care in Fredericksburg and chairman of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. Arner is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Carilion Clinic in Roanoke.
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