Governor Northam's COVID-19 Briefing – 6/11/2020

Northern Virginia and Richmond will go into Phase 2 this Friday, June 12.
Virginia will stay in Phase 2 for a minimum of two weeks in order to allow for adequate data observation.

While other states have seen spikes in case numbers in the past week, Virginia's metrics continue to trend downward.
Total cases have been trending downward in Virginia since the end of May.
- The number of deaths from COVID-19 has also started to trend downward over the last several weeks.
Percent positivity of tests is continuing to decrease, with the rate dropping to 8.9% this week.
- At Virginia's peak, percent positivity was well over 20%.
Governor Northam reminds Virginians that, despite the encouraging numbers, the virus is "still with us" and everyone must continue to behave cautiously in order to stay on this path.
Addressing those attending protests across Virginia, Governor Northam encourages the use of face coverings at all times, and testing after attending a protest.

Revenues are about 20% below where they were in May of 2019.
- This is slightly better than was anticipated at the end of March.
The fiscal year ends June 30.
- It was estimated that Virginia's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 would be $1 billion below the (pre-pandemic) projected revenue.
- Currently, Virginia's revenue is $800 million below the projected revenue.
The Governor will schedule a special session sometime in July to create a new budget.
- This is a necessity, since tax payments have been delayed until June.
- The special session will come after the re-forecasting of the budget.

May begin to open campuses and offer in-person instruction.
Must meet certain public health conditions in order to re-open
- Ensure positive trends in public health data
- Community must have adequate healthcare capacity in the event of a surge in cases
Institutions must submit comprehensive reopening plans to the State Council of Private Education
- Plans must be based upon the best available public health data, and VDH and CDC guidelines.
- Plans will include steps for increased social distancing, cleaning, and hygiene measures.
The VDH offers testing guidance specified for institutions of higher education, which is available to all institutions in Virginia.
Guidance for re-opening applies to all institutions, both public and private.
While each institution has the ability to create their re-opening plan to best serve their unique needs, each plan, at minimum, must address the following considerations:
- Repopulation of campus, and travel off of campus for breaks or necessitated removal of students from campus.
- Monitoring of health conditions to quickly detect appearance of the virus
- Containment to prevent spread of the virus when detected
- Shutdown considerations if necessitated by severe conditions or public health guidance
Institutions are encouraged to update their plans as more information becomes available.
- Specifically in the areas of testing and contact tracing.