The Shadow
RICHMOND — The Highlands and most areas of Virginia will move forward with Gov. Ralph Northam’s initial phase of reopening the state’s economy Friday.
However, Northern Virginia, which has a high share of Virginia’s COVID-19 cases, will not move into Phase I?until May 29.
As of Wednesday, Northern Virginia had approximately 50 percent of the COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the state. Moreover, approximately 33 percent of the deaths in the state from the disease were reported in Northern Virginia localities.
In his 2 p.m. press briefing on Wednesday, the governor said increased testing is part of his overall plan for reopening the state’s economy in phases.
Tuesday, the state reported 8,845 tests, approaching Northam’s goal of 10,000 tests per day.
“Robust testing is part of our plan to slowly ease restrictions in Phase I,” Norrtham said.
If data metrics being monitored by the state continue to improve, the state will move into Phase II of the reopening plan, known as “Forward Virginia,” in two to three weeks.
Data being monitored by state officials includes case numbers and hospitalizations, hospital capacity, the availability of personal protection equipment and testing.
Northam said testing efforts in the state are being aided by drug stores and pharmacies. He said Walmart plans to aid the effort soon.
“Phase I is not like turning on the light switch,” the governor said in noting that businesses that do reopen must comply with restrictions.
A stay-at-home order issued by Northam will become a safer-at-home order on Friday, meaning that residents should only venture outside their homes for essentials and medical visits.
Northam said the state plans to distribute $650 million in federal funding it recently received under the congressional CARES Act.
The money will be distributed to Virginia localities to help pay for their response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Northam said the state plans to increase its contact tracing as testing increases.
Virginia Health Commissioner Dr. Norm Oliver said the state plans to employ about 1,300 contract tracers to help track and halt the spread of the virus.
On Wednesday, the state reported 26,746 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 946 from Tuesday. There have been 927 deaths in the state, representing an increase of 36 from Tuesday.
The state had conducted 180,084 tests for COVID-19.
Regional Update
Dr. Molly O’Dell, director of communicable disease control for the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts, said the public needs to maintain safeguards even those the Phase I of reopening in Virginia goes into effect Friday.
“Basically, we need to now extend our practices that we’ve been doing into these areas that are included during Phase I, and what we don’t want to happen is for people to think that Phase I means everything is fine because as you can see, we are still having a number of cases,” O’Dell said during her weekly press briefing on Tuesday.
“The same rigorous discipline needs to be continued from the stay-at-home order. Every one of us needs to be on guard and make conscious decisions,” she said.
In the 30 hours leading up to Tuesday, there were an additional 20 new cases reported in the localities that make up the Roanoke-Alleghany Health Districts.
“This virus is alive and well in our communities,” she said. “We don’t have good surveillance data to know how widespread it is in our communities, but we know it is there.”
As a medical professional, O’Dell said she has concerns about reopening the state’s economy while the virus is still present, but she realizes that businesses are suffering.
“The economy is suffering so severely. It’s not an either-or. We need to do both. We need to stop the spread of the virus and allow commerce to go on,” Hagan said.
As of Wednesday, the health department was reporting 269 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Roanoke City-Alleghany Health Districts.
The breakdown in cases was: Roanoke City, 116; Roanoke County, 80; Salem, 32; Botetourt County, 30; Alleghany County, 6; Craig County, 4; and Covington, 1.
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(Gavin Dressler Photo)
