Northam: Phase One of reopening will proceed Friday, except in Northern Va.
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Central Virginia will continue to enter Phase One of reopening Friday, while Northern Virginia will delay Phase One an additional two weeks, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a press briefing Wednesday in Richmond.
“If there are other regions in Virginia that have concerns, that have been following their metrics, that aren’t ready to enter Phase One, I haven’t heard from them personally but I would encourage them personally to go through the same process that the folks in Northern Virginia did,” Northam said.
“To date, we have only had one locality, one region, that has requested through their leadership to delay entering phase one.”
According to Northam, there is the potential of a surge in cases after the state reopens.
“As the governor mentioned it will be critical to continue to contain the spread of this disease through testing, identifying cases as they present, isolating those cases from other people,” said State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver.
Virginia’s total number of confirmed cases is slightly less than 27,000 – an increase in nearly 950 from yesterday – with 927 deaths, a jump of 36. Overall, about 15 percent of tests conducted in the state have resulted in positive confirmations.
Northam said that $650 million in federal financial aid through the CARES Act will be directed to the state’s local governments to help them pay for the cost of responding through the pandemic.
