Northam delays Phase I of reopening plan for Northern Virginia

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam issued an executive order May 12 stating that localities in Northern Virginia can delay Phase I of the state’s plan to ease restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Northam had previously announced that Phase I, which allows non-essential businesses, barbershops, hair salons, and places of worship to open May 15 with certain restrictions aimed to maintaining social distancing. That plan is contingent on meeting health metrics on COVID-19 cases, positive test results, hospital capacity, and other factors. 

Fairfax County Supervisor Jeffrey McKay and other Northern Virginia leaders told Northam on May 10 that Northern Virginia hasn’t met most of those metrics and urged implementation of Phase I be delayed for the region. 

Executive Order 62 allows Northern Virginia localities to delay Phase I until midnight on Thursday, May 28, to allow those localities more time to meet the health metrics.

“The Phase One policies are a floor, not a ceiling.” Northam said. “While the data show Virginia as a whole is are ready to slowly and deliberately ease some restrictions, it is too soon for Northern Virginia. I support the request from localities in this region to delay implementation of Phase One to protect public health.”

Data show that Northern Virginia is substantially higher than the rest of the commonwealth in percentage of positive tests for COVID-19, the governor’s office states. The Northern Virginia region has about a 25 percent positivity rate, while the rest of the commonwealth is closer to 10 percent.  

Further, in the last 24 hours, Northern Virginia reported more than 700 cases, while the rest of the commonwealth reported approximately 270. On any given day, 70 percent of the commonwealth’s positive cases are attributable to the Northern Virginia region.

Seven of the eight zip codes with the most cases are in Northern Virginia.