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By ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday that some parts of the state may keep coronavirus-related restrictions in place longer than the rest of the state. The governor said areas of the state hard hit by the virus, like northern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, may extend bans on certain business openings and public gatherings that are expected to expire May 15.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
As deaths mount from COVID-19 in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, Virginia health officials are moving aggressively this week to test residents and staff to track the virus and control its spread among the most medically vulnerable population in the state.
By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury
Virginia is rushing to hire 1,000 contact tracers — public health workers who help contain the spread of infection diseases by tracking down people who came in contact with a sick person. But for now, state officials are unable to say exactly how many people they’re paying to do a job that public health experts agree will be essential to slowing the spread of COVID-19.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Three hundred COVID-19 tests of inmates at the Buckingham Correctional Center near Dillwyn were lost by a laboratory, requiring that the prisoners be retested this week. Lisa Kinney, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, wrote in an email Wednesday that on April 27 “we delivered 300 COVID-19 offender swabs taken by DOC staff at Buckingham Correctional Center to the commercial lab we were using to run the tests.”
The Virginia Public Access Project
Many of the 115 cities and towns holding municipal elections later this month report a surge in balloting by mail, as voters seek to avoid risk of Election Day infection at polling stations. VPAP surveyed 15 cities and towns to compare the May 2020 absentee turnout (so far) with the final absentee turnout in May 2016.
By MARGARET MATRAY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia courts can begin hearing non-emergency matters in person beginning May 18 — if they determine it’s safe and comply with court system rules on how to transition from emergency to routine operations, according to a new order Wednesday from the state Supreme Court.
By JOHN REID BLACKWELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Small businesses across Virginia have been approved for almost $12.7 billion in loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, according to federal data released this week.
The Full Report
44 articles, 22 publications
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The Virginia Public Access Project
In addition to statewide numbers, VPAP has added a feature to its COVID-19 dashboard that provides a locality-specific view, which includes a timeline and charts that compare cases and deaths per 100,000 with regional and statewide rates. Look for box at the top of the page and enter in name of Virginia city or county. Updated each morning shortly after 9 a.m.
By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday that the guidelines for a phased reopening of the state will serve as a “floor” for localities — meaning they can impose stricter restrictions — after rejecting a regional approach two days earlier. Northam said localities seeing more COVID-19 cases might need to delay lifting some of the statewide restrictions on public gatherings he plans to relax starting May 15.
By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
One chamber was inside an air-conditioned museum space. The other, under a large tent on the Capitol grounds. One cost taxpayers $20,000. The other, more than $46,000. When state lawmakers reconvened on April 22 to take up Gov. Ralph Northam’s amendments to bills they had passed during the regular General Assembly session months before, they decided they couldn’t meet in their usual spots in the state Capitol, where putting 140 people into the chambers meant close quarters and the increased threat of contagion during a coronavirus pandemic.
By STAFF REPORT, Chesterfield Observer
State Sen. Amanda Chase’s Rally to Reopen Virginia outside the State Capitol on Wednesday was decidedly one-note in its message: that of a blaring car horn. Beginning at 1 p.m., dozens of trucks, cars and vans circled the streets around Capitol Square as drivers honked their horns in protest of Gov. Ralph Northam’s widespread closure of public life in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By FREDRICK KUNKLE, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The emails kept coming with promises of free money, and the Rev. Alan DeFriese kept ignoring them, convinced they were part of a scam. “It felt very much like the ‘Nigerian prince’ emails that come through that say, ‘All you need to do is contact us with your banking information, and we’re going to wire you a lot of money,’ ” said DeFriese, who heads the Peninsula Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter in Newport News, Va.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
As Congress considers another coronavirus relief package, both of Virginia’s senators say more aid is necessary to support state and local government budgets for the essential public services they provide. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats who previously served as Virginia governor, said Wednesday they are confident the Senate ultimately will pass legislation that will include more aid for state and local governments, as well as more flexibility in how they use it.
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
President Donald Trump has vetoed legislation introduced by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine to limit the chief executive’s ability to wage war against Iran. Kaine, a Democrat, introduced the measure in the wake of escalated tensions with Iran. Trump ordered a strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January, nearly bringing the two countries to war.
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program was created to help businesses weather the storm of coronavirus by offering loans that can be forgiven if a business retains most of its workforce. But crippled businesses are finding that the loans come wrapped in thorny questions, including: How do we retain workers if there isn’t any work to do?
By SYDNEY LAKE, Virginia Business
Since the second round of funding for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) launched on April 27, Virginia banks have processed more than 46,000 loan applications for the COVID-19 relief funding for small businesses, totaling more than $3.97 billion as of May 1, according to SBA data.
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
ChamberRVA has created a relief fund for small businesses in the Richmond region affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The RVA Small Business Relief Fund will provide unrestricted grants of $2,500 to qualifying businesses, the regional business organization announced Wednesday. The grants would go to help pay rent, employee salaries and operating costs as a stop-gap relief before the business receives federal and state aid.
By JOSH REYES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Help is on the way for some Newport News small businesses that have had to close during the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 Small Business Resiliency Grant Program will offer grants of up to $5,000. Officials with the city and its Economic Development Authority expect to give out about 125 grants worth about $500,000 in all.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Ballad Health is assisting hundreds of area businesses resuming operations to help minimize the spread of COVID-19.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Ballad Health’s third quarter financial results reflect the initial erosions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which also complicates future projections. The regional health care system released results Wednesday from January through March that showed net patient revenue was 6% below the same period in 2019.
By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee
Bill Cosner, the meat manager at Piggly Wiggly in Danville, has noticed the amount of that meat he receives from suppliers drop by 30% since mid-March, when the stay-at-home orders began. While the extreme spike in demand has “tapered off,” Cosner said the decreased supply combined with the still-heightened demand means that they can't keep the meat section stocked for long.
By KARRI PEIFER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Two months ago, things were looking up for Josh and Jessica Bufford, owners of Toast in the West End. In mid-February, they’d just reopened their 8-year-old restaurant in The Village shopping center after a kitchen fire in October closed the restaurant for four months. They’d used the time to renovate their 112-seat dining room while continuing day-to-day operations at their two other Richmond-area restaurants.
By STAFF REPORT, Inside NOVA (Metered Paywall)
Fewer drivers on the Interstate 66 toll road inside the Beltway during the COVID-19 pandemic means less money for regional transportation projects.
By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Two surprise performers will help the University of Virginia celebrate the Class of 2020 virtually as it officially confers degrees to about 7,250 graduates on May 16. The university is still planning to hold a graduation ceremony in-person in October of this year or May of 2021, depending on the guidelines and restrictions in place at the time.
By SYDNEY LAKE, Va Business Magazine
Liberty University announced Tuesday that it has surpassed 100,000 online students. The Lynchburg-based university’s previous online enrollment record was 98,000 students in 2014, and as of January 2020, it remained the state’s largest university by enrollment.
By SARA GRACE TODD, WSET
Virginia's Community Colleges announce the launch of CollegeAnywhereVA.org, an online portal enabling Virginians to find online courses that best meet their needs. In addition to connecting students with high-quality and affordable remote-learning courses, the site also connects current and prospective students with advisors who are trained to streamline the application and course enrollment process.
By MATT JONES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Rachel Bitecofer, an election forecaster who regularly appears on national media outlets, plans to leave her job with Christopher Newport University this summer. In a series of tweets posted last week, Bitecofer said that CNU denied her application to convert her job into a tenure-track position....“Not gonna lie, it hurts,” Bitecofer wrote. “It hurts to have success be punished. But at the end of the day, they’d rather forgo recognition than have me be the face of the uni.”
By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL, Politico
Washington, D.C.’s leaders are fighting to keep the nation’s capital locked down, even as neighboring states begin lifting restrictions, members of Congress return to Capitol Hill and the city’s most prominent resident, President Donald Trump, champions efforts to reopen the nation’s economy....But after working early in the crisis to coordinate a response with the states of Maryland and Virginia, home to the heavily populated D.C. suburbs, the District now finds itself breaking from its larger neighbors when it comes to reopening plans. That it’s sandwiched between them will make it that much harder to hold the line.
By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury
Nearly 300 nursing homes across Virginia are scheduled to receive a seven-day supply of personal protective equipment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Facilities aren’t likely to get a heads-up before their shipment arrives, according to a presentation from the governor’s COVID-19 Long-Term Care Task Force (assembled in mid-April to address a growing number of outbreaks among some of the state’s most vulnerable residents). But the supplies are scheduled to begin arriving this week and continue through the middle of June.
By LORENZO HALL, WUSA
Loudoun County leaders said they were outbid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an order of personal protective equipment. The county was expecting approximately 30,000 N95 respirators. "We're all forced to fend for ourselves, spin wheels, waste energy and resources," County Supervisor Juli Briskman, who represents the Algonkian District of Loudoun County, said. "To think supplies are coming and have them taken."
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
There’s an “urgent need” for additional staff and personal protective equipment at Heritage Hall nursing home in King George County, the site of the first—and so far, only—outbreak of COVID-19 cases in a local long-term care facility.
By ALAN RODRIGUEZ ESPINOZA, WCVE
Around a month ago, Mary Kate Gibbons encountered her first coronavirus patient. Gibbons is a registered nurse at the VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital emergency department. She says she’s so concerned for the health of others, she’s had a hard time focusing on her own mental health. One of the hardest parts, she says, is not knowing when she’ll be able to see her loved ones again. “I don't see my family because I want to protect them,” Gibbons said. “Knowing that it's going to be a lot longer than most for me to be able to see them is hard.”
By SYDNEY LAKE, Virginia Business
The sky’s the limit when it comes to COVID-19-related solutions. After being approached by the state government, the Herndon-based Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) partnered with Virginia Beach-based DroneUp to test how drones can assist medical professionals in delivering test samples and personal protective equipment in no-contact, emergency situations, DroneUp announced this week.
ArlNow
Arlington County has grown its public health workforce more than 10x since January amid the coronavirus pandemic. “At the start of this emergency in January, we had approximately 15 members in Public Health leading response efforts,” Arlington Public Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese tells ARLnow. “We have since expanded to more than 250, including many resources from other parts of the Department of Human Services, temporary reassignments from other County departments and community volunteers.”
By ALEXIS ANGELUS AND STACEY DEC, WCVE
Virginia school administrators say they are struggling to provide mental health services during the coronavirus pandemic, even as vulnerable students continue with online studies away from regular counseling and support. As school systems move to virtual learning, school counseling resources, deemed critical to student wellness by the U.S. Department of Education, are unable to provide in-person therapy for high-risk students.
By PATRICK HITE, News Leader (Metered Paywall - 3 to 4 articles a month)
Morris Hickman had heard from a lot of parents that they were tired of their kids being stuck indoors this spring. They asked Hickman, the commissioner of the local American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), to begin league play sooner rather than later. Hickman listened to them and decided, even during a pandemic, to launch play Saturday, May 16. "It's going to kind of be interesting," Hickman said. "We've still got to stay under the 10 (player) limit on the field."
By ELIZABETH TYREE, WSET
Prepare your ears for the next couple months as cicadas are expected to emerge later in May and June. Periodical cicada Brood IX will emerge in spring 2020 in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia after being underground since 2003.
By NEAL AUGENSTEIN, WTOP
Loudoun County Public Schools is considering elimination of class rank for graduating seniors and shortening the school year by five days amid the coronavirus shutdown. During a virtual school board meeting Tuesday, Assistant Superintendent Ashley Ellis said, “Some school divisions in Virginia are using this extended school closure as an opportunity to considering removing class rank,” which has been historically used as a method of comparing students’ success.
By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Developers behind the failed Navy Hill plan have pitched a $350 million development for the city-owned public safety building site. Capital City Partners LLC offered Richmond $3.17 million for the derelict structure fronting North Ninth Street and the 3-acre property it stands on, according to a proposal addressed to interim Chief Administrative Officer Lenora Reid and dated May 1.
By IAN M. STEWART, WCVE
The Chesterfield School Board is grappling with ways to close a $23 million funding gap in next year’s budget. The fissure is due to lowered forecasted revenue streams from both the state and county, which are down because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In a budget work session Tuesday, Deputy Superintendent Thomas Taylor said the stream of sales tax revenue is uncertain and that any money from the State Lottery is also projected to be lower.
By SARA GREGORY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Norfolk will furlough some part-time school employees starting this week. The division has been paying long-term, part-time employees since schools shut down in March. After Friday, those who can’t report to work physically or virtually will be furloughed indefinitely.
By ADELE UPHAUS–CONNER, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
The Spotsylvania County school system announced Wednesday afternoon that it plans to hold in-person graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020 “in a controlled setting in which social distancing and other recommended safety measures are practiced.” The graduation events for 1,700 seniors at the five county high schools will be held the last two weeks of May, the county school division announced in a press release Wednesday.
By RALPH BERRIER JR., Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Roanoke’s greenways got the green light to reopen. The popular paved pathways that have been closed for more than a month as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic will begin reopening in phases starting May 15, Roanoke Mayor Sherman Lea announced during a video news conference Wednesday.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
As scholastic battle cries go, this one proved memorable: “O, Virginians! Open your eyes and suffer not yourselves to be deluded. Be particular in your representations, and elect no man to your legislature, who is inimical to our existing form of government as to primary education.” That’s from an article from “Evangelical and Literary Magazine,” published in 1823.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
When the 1918 influenza pandemic swept across Virginia, communication tools and emergency services naturally were primitive compared to today. According to a March RTD story citing Encyclopedia Virginia figures, around 20,000 people in Richmond fell ill with the virus and more than 1,000 died. A front page from The Times-Dispatch archives shows how data was collected from “telegraphic reports” as army camps experienced outbreaks.
By WARREN FISKE, WCVE
Gov. Ralph Northam recently announced that Virginia will be receiving decontamination systems that will help provide front-line health workers with protective equipment against COVID-19. Each of the systems can massively sanitize for reuse much-sought-after N95 face masks. . . . Traditionally, N95 masks have been designated for only single use. So we fact-checked Northam’s statement that the system allows the masks to be “decontaminated and reused 20 times without degrading.”
By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
On Monday, the presidents of Virginia’s 14 taxpayer-financed colleges and universities met by conference call to brainstorm and swap intel on the continuing impact of COVID-19. The virus stunted the spring semester and will remake the academic year ahead. And the one after that. And the one after that. The conversation, like many among the presidents, was — pun intended — collegial.
By MAURY JOHNSON, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Being a member of Preserve Monroe and probably one of those “certain individuals” mentioned (“Pandemic isn’t a reason to stop the pipeline,” April 8 op-ed), I must thank them because their response has outraged anti-pipeline, pro-pipeline and even some pipeline workers. Residents have documented MVP workers not following the guidelines, this refutes their statements.
Johnson is a farmer who lives in Greenville, West Virginia.
By CHRIS STUART, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
As the date nears when Virginia businesses can reopen, business owners need to think fast and move faster to protect employees. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, we all need to change safety protocols and increase security measures so our businesses can reopen safely and not further spread COVID-19.
Chris Stuart is vice president of Top Guard Security, a SWAM-certified employer with locations in Hampton, Norfolk and Richmond.
By RACHEL WHITE, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
In March, Virginia became the second state to announce the closure of all public and private K-12 schools for the remainder of the school year. As of May 5, Education Week reported that 47 states, four U.S. territories and the District of Columbia have ordered or recommended schools close for the academic year.
Rachel White is an assistant professor of educational foundations and leadership at Old Dominion University’s Darden College of Education and Professional Studies
By JOHN LESINSKI, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
On April 29, Attorney General Mark Herring made the encouraging announcement that absentee ballots in the Commonwealth will be counted in the June 23rd primary without requiring a witness. The announcement is an effort to mitigate any unnecessary voting barriers in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Further, this move strengthens Gov. Northam’s efforts to encourage individuals to vote absentee to limit the number of people going to the polls in person on June 23rd.
Lesinki is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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