Northam pledges support for small businesses, Medicaid patients

Assistance for Virginians on Medicaid and potential financial help for state businesses were among the state’s responses to COVID-19 that Gov. Ralph Northam highlighted during his daily briefing about the COVID-19 virus Thursday.

Nearly 100 people in the state are now confirmed to have the virus, though it’s likely that many others have it, too, and simply haven’t displayed symptoms or haven’t been tested yet.

To assist the 1.5 million state residents who are enrolled in Medicaid, Northam said the state will eliminate all co-payments, allow a 90-day supply of routine prescriptions and expand access to telehealth services so that patients don’t need to leave their homes for certain evaluations.

In a March 18 letter to childcare providers statewide, Northam encouraged operators to urge their families who are able to do so to care for their own children at home, so that the child care facilities will be able to care for the children of first-responders. Each childcare classroom should be limited to no more than 10 total children and staff members, he wrote, and meals should only be served in classrooms.

The state received approval from the U.S. Small Business Administration Thursday to allow small businesses and nonprofits in the state impacted by the virus to apply for low-interest federal disaster loans of as much as $2 million, Northam said. Applications are available online at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/.

Additionally, Northam extended the due date for individual and corporate income taxes in Virginia to June 1, though filing deadlines remain the same. Businesses affected by COVID-19 also may request to defer payment of state sales tax – due March 20 — for 30 days.

To stem the spread of the virus among inmates and jail staff members statewide, the Virginia Department of Corrections has suspended in-person visitation and all transfers from local and regional jails.