Northam: 3 potential COVID-19 patient overflow sites identified; one in Richmond region

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has identified three sites in Virginia – including an unnamed one in the Richmond area – where COVID-19 patients could be treated in overflow field hospital locations once other hospitals reach their capacities, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday. The other two locations are the Hampton Convention Center – near two hospitals in that region – and an Exxon Mobil facility in Fairfax, adjacent to Inova Fairfax Hospital.

The selections came following an analysis of 41 potential sites; officials plan to more closely examine sites in the Charlottesville-Roanoke corridor in the coming week, according to Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs Carlos Hopkins, but they focused their initial efforts on the three regions of the state with the highest concentration of citizens and the highest COVID-19 case counts to date, said Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dan Carey.

Separately, state hospitals independently have been preparing for ways to treat more patients at their own facilities, Carey said.

Northam encouraged citizens to follow the stay-at-home order he made Monday strictly.

“The sooner we can put this health crisis behind us, the sooner our lives will return to order and the sooner our economy will rebound,” he said.

Responding to questions about why that order extends through June 10 – longer than the federal government’s April 30 stay-at-home suggestion and longer than many other states’ orders, Northam said his philosophy always has been to prepare for the worst but hope for the best.

“You need to know the truth – no sugarcoating,” he said. “I want Virginians to prepare themselves for the long haul.”

State officials are expecting the number of cases of COVID-19 in Virginia to peak sometime between late April and late May, Northam said.

To date, more than 15,000 state residents have been tested for the virus and about 10 percent – roughly 1,500 – have tested positive. Of those positive cases, 305 patients have been hospitalized, including 108 are currently on ventilator support. Thirty-seven Virginians – or about 2.5% of those who tested positive so far – have died from the virus.

Northam encouraged state residents whose plan to vote in local elections in May or state Congressional primaries in June to vote absentee instead. His stay-at-home order extends through June 10; the Congressional primaries are scheduled for June 9.

Residents who have federal mortgage loans through the Virginia Housing Department Authority will be able to defer their payments for as long as three months Northam said, and the state is suspending evictions for anyone with public housing vouchers.