Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Monday that hair salons, gyms, restaurants and churches will be able to reopen with restrictions as soon as next week, when the state enters phase one of its reopening plan.
Mr. Northam extended the stay-at-home order and the order that closed nonessential businesses to May 14, saying some restrictions implemented to stop the spread of the coronavirus will be eased the following day.
“Again, I realize it is a week of extension but it will give us all time, allow us to provide the guidelines to these business; and when we do open, which again hopefully will be next Friday, we will be able to do it as smoothly as possible and as safely as possible for all of Virginia,” he said at a press conference in Richmond.
Businesses like hair salons, farmers’ markets, gyms, small retail stores and restaurants, as well as houses of worship, will be able to reopen with requirements on limiting the number of customers, routine cleaning and employees wearing face masks.
During phase one of the reopening, Virginians will still be asked to wear face coverings in public and continue social distancing and telework. A ban on gatherings of 10 people or more will remain in place.
At his press conference Monday, Mr. Northam showed graphs illustrating the state’s increased testing for COVID-19 and indicating the beginning of a decline in new coronavirus cases.
He said each of the plan’s three phases will last about two or three weeks.
“Now we can start to move into our new phase of our response but at the same time I want to make it very clear, this virus is still here, it has not gone away and it will not go away until their is a vaccination,” Mr. Northam said, adding that a vaccine might not be created for a year or two.
“So all of our efforts have slowed the spread but have not cured the disease,” the Democratic governor added.
To move into phase two, health officials will look for continued decreases in new cases, stable hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients, and robust contact tracing and testing. For the last phase, there can be no evidence of a rebound of new cases for a sustained period, Mr. Northam said.
In the District, health officials reported Monday that they have seen zero of the 14 days of sustained decrease in community spread of the coronavirus required to enter phase one of a reopening plan.
Dr. Laquandra Nesbitt, director of the D.C. Department of Health, said her agency is monitoring increased rates of infection in the 16th Street Heights and Columbia Heights neighborhoods.
Dr. Nesbitt attributed the rise to an increase in household spread, in which the number of residents living within close proximity of one another is higher than average for the rest of the city.
The District has 24 infants who have tested positive for coronavirus, half of whom are members of the Latino community. Dr. Nesbitt said the District has cases of no infants contracting the virus postpartum, indicating that household transmission was present.
Meanwhile, the D.C. Council will vote Tuesday on its fourth coronavirus omnibus relief bill.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat, said the 32 sections of the legislation include provisions that would amend business interruption insurance to include closures related to the public health emergency, include payment plans related to utilities and change the number of signatures required for candidates to get on the ballot in November.
The bill also would limit third-party food delivery services from charging a commission of more than 15%.
“The concern here is that restaurants, which are barely surviving because of the shutdown, are struggling with a lifeline that they can sell meals on a carryout basis and as I indicated the third-party delivery services are charging commissions that wipeout any profit that the restaurant would order,” Mr. Mendelson said, noting that other jurisdictions across the country are taking similar actions.
In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday that the first state-run drive-thru testing site for the coronavirus in western Maryland will open Tuesday.
Mr. Hogan said the testing site will open at a Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program station in Hagerstown.
“With the tests we recently acquired from South Korea, Maryland continues to implement an expanded testing strategy,” the Republican governor said in a news release. “Drive-thru testing at Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program stations provides an easily accessible option for many citizens, and we now have the resources to continue to expand these sites throughout the state.”
Last week, Mr. Hogan announced expanded testing to address poultry plant outbreaks in Wicomico and Caroline counties on the Eastern Shore.
In addition, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones joined a group of bipartisan leaders of state legislatures around the country in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging Congress to help state governments facing big budget shortfalls due to the virus.
“We need Congress to step in so that we have flexibility in meeting the needs of our citizens and rebuilding our economies after this health crisis has passed,” said Mr. Ferguson, Baltimore Democrat.
χ This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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