Bagby to Northam: Don’t begin reopening yet

Members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, whose top two leaders represent portions of Henrico County, are expressing what they call “grave concerns” about Virginia’s plans to begin the first phase of its reopening in two days.

In a letter today to Gov. Ralph Northam, caucus Chair Lamont Bagby (D-74th District, which includes part of Henrico), urged reconsideration of the plans, writing that reopening could disproportionately impact those workers deemed “essential” by Northam’s previous executive orders – a large number of whom are minorities.

“While we understand the valid concerns that non-essential business closure and stay-at-home orders have taken a substantial toll on our Commonwealth’s economy, these concerns must be weighed with the substantial negative impacts on many Virginians, especially Black Virginians and Virginians of Color,” Bagby wrote on behalf of the caucus. “[A] significant percentage of our essential workers are Black Virginians and Virginians of Color. [T]hese workers still require such protections and support. Reopening now will not only increase the incidence of COVID-19 exposure to these workers, who remain unprotected and ill- supported, but will also increase the negative economic pressures that they are already experiencing.”

The caucus’s vice chair is state Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-9th District, which includes part of Henrico).

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Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Virginia has continued its criticism of Northam's reopening plan as being "strict, authoritarian, and draconian."

"At this point, Governor Northam's lockdown is more of an an exercise in raw power as opposed to policy," RPV Chairman Jack Wilson said in a statement Monday. "He has accomplished his goal of bringing our once prosperous Commonwealth to a grinding halt. We have been saying for weeks that Northam needs to start taking the economic impacts of his edicts seriously, but we are beginning to think he does not value Virginia businesses enough to do anything meaningful for working families. Governor Northam's plans have no details, data, or evidence to support them. It's time to reopen Virginia."

Bagby asked Northam (also a Democrat) to halt the planned first phase of reopening until the governor could bring forth a plan “that explicitly considers and confronts current and potential growth in racial disparities, and the needs and safety of underserved and vulnerable populations in Virginia.”

Failing to do so, he said, could force a number of workers currently collecting unemployment to choose between returning to jobs at which they don’t feel safe or declining to do so but losing their unemployment in the process. Many who would return to work Friday also may not have access to adequate child care, Bagby wrote.

“Under the current plan. . . we will be creating a situation where Black and Brown Virginians outside of Northern Virginia will become guinea pigs for our economy,” he wrote. “We’ve already seen this take place in Georgia, where that state’s premature reopening resulted in a huge spike in COVID-19 cases, with the overwhelming majority being Black people and People of Color.”

Bagby also questioned whether the state has sufficient data to understand whether it has met the guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and others in the medical community for a safe reopening.

“Once this Phase One plan goes into effect there is no turning back,” he wrote. “Therefore, we must go through with it only when the proper protections are in place.