As the state enters week four of reopening, the Virginia Department of Health probably won’t know if there’s a broad increase in COVID-19 cases until late June, State Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver said Wednesday.
Because of the virus’ two-week incubation time, plus time for testing and reporting results to VDH, there will be a two- to four-week wait before the state knows the impact of reopening on virus rates, Oliver said in an interview with Virginia Business.
By that time, Virginia could be in Phase Three, the final stage of the governor‘s “Forward Virginia” reopening plan.
With the whole state set to be in Phase Two by Friday, Oliver encouraged Virginians to continue being vigilant about washing their hands, wearing masks when in enclosed spaces and keeping six feet of distance from others.
On Friday, the city of Richmond and five Northern Virginia localities will join the rest of the state in Phase Two, which further loosens restrictions on nonessential businesses and allows gatherings of 50 people. Most of the state has been in Phase Two since June 5. Phase One started May 15 for all except Richmond, Northern Virginia and Accomack County, which entered the first phase two weeks later.
Also, on Memorial Day weekend, the governor allowed Virginia Beach’s shores to open for sunbathers and swimmers, as long as they maintained social distancing. Previously, only exercise and fishing were allowed on beaches.
Between people going to beaches and dining out, among other recently gained freedoms, it will be “hard to tease out” specific causes for future cases of the coronavirus, Oliver noted.
As of Wednesday, the state’s positivity rate was 9%, down from a high of 22.1% recorded April 20. Virginia has 52,177 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases out of 395,972 PCR tests performed, according to VDH’s latest data.
Oliver and other health officials have said over the past three months that the number of cases is likely to increase as the state begins to reopen — but they hope that Virginia’s masking mandate, along with other safety measures, will help the state avoid a sharp spike that could overwhelm hospitals.
Aside from reopening, recent large protests across the nation — even with many in the crowds wearing masks — could cause a resurgence, some health officials worry. However, it’s too soon to tell definitively, since most protests have occurred only within the past two weeks.
The incubation period for the novel coronavirus is between two and 14 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has advised anyone who has been exposed to a confirmed patient to self-quarantine for two weeks.
Although it is now much easier to get tested for the virus in Virginia, with tests offered at 39 CVS pharmacies in Virginia and other locations like doctors’ offices, Oliver said that it is not necessary to get tested unless you show symptoms, such as a cough, a fever or losing your sense of taste.
The Virginia Department of Health’s COVIDcheck site allows Virginians to check their symptoms and find a testing location nearby, he said.
Oliver said that for his part, he still plans to limit himself to just necessary outings during Phase Two, as anyone older than 60 is considered part of a higher risk group and is advised to stay at home as much as possible.
Although he participates regularly in Gov. Ralph Northam’s coronavirus news conferences, Oliver said he has gone to the grocery store only once since the pandemic and instead orders most groceries or other items to be delivered to his home. Also, along with washing his hands frequently and wearing a mask, he added, “I keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in my car.”
Oliver did have an eye doctor’s appointment last week, and found the experience was different from before the pandemic.
“I had to wear a mask, and they took my temperature when I came in and asked me a bunch of questions,” Oliver said. “But I was able to get my eyes checked and get some new glasses.”
Curtis Brown, for four years the chief deputy state coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, was promoted Tuesday to state coordinator of emergency management, Gov. Ralph Northam announced. He is the first African American person to hold the post.
“Curtis has done a tremendous job as chief deputy, and I am proud to appoint him to this new role,” Northam said in a statement. “I look forward to his continued leadership as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, advance emergency preparedness and public safety in our communities, and respond to severe weather and other emergencies.”
Brown previously served as deputy secretary of public safety and homeland security in Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration, as well as regional emergency management administrator for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and served on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security. Brown co-founded the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management and received his degrees from Radford University, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University.
He replaces Jeff Stern, who served as VDEM’s chief for six years and recently joined the Federal Emergency Management Agency as superintendent of the Emergency Management Institute.
Jehmal Hudson, who held several roles at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and served as a law clerk for then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, was appointed to the Virginia State Corporation Commission on Tuesday. He is the first African American person named to the judicial seat.
An Arlington resident, Hudson previously served as vice president of government affairs for the National Hydropower Association and was director of government affairs at FERC. He has held roles with congressional Democrats as well, and earned his law degree from the Vermont Law School.
“Jehmal Hudson is a remarkable leader and I am pleased to name him to this important position,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement. “He brings tremendous knowledge and expertise to the State Corporation Commission, particularly on advanced energy, and I am confident he will serve our commonwealth well.”
Republicans and Democrats in the House of Delegates approved Hudson’s nomination in March, but state Senate Republicans balked, saying Hudson didn’t have the necessary experience in banking and insurance. Without Senate approval, the job of appointing the SCC judge fell to Northam, but the General Assembly must take action to either approve Hudson or leave the seat vacant within 30 days of the start of the next session in 2021.
The three-member SCC is elected by the General Assembly for six-year terms.
Northern Virginia and the city of Richmond will enter Phase Two of Gov. Ralph Northam’s “Forward Virginia” plan Friday, June 12, joining the rest of the state in loosened restrictions on dining areas, personal care and grooming services and other nonessential businesses, Northam announced Tuesday. The state’s mask mandate in enclosed, public areas remains in place.
Phase Two of reopening in Virginia allows increased flexibility for restaurants, gyms, sports, and some entertainment venues, including:
Gatherings of up to 50 people are permitted.
Restaurants can offer indoor service at 50% capacity
Gyms and fitness centers can hold indoor classes and workouts at 30% capacity.
Swimming pools can reopen with some restrictions.
Entertainment venues such as museums, zoo and botanical gardens can reopen with some restrictions.
Recreational sports are allowed with physical distancing requirements and no sharing of sporting equipment.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney said,“Given the data landscape, the governor‘s requirement that all Virginians wear face coverings and my trust in the Richmond community to look out for each other, I’m comfortable with our city entering Phase Two of Forward Virginia. However, we cannot forget that beating this disease for good will require avid community testing, contact tracing and stable isolation for COVID-19 positive patients. This is the biggest team project we’ve ever undertaken as a city, and it will continue to require compassion and cooperation from every one of us.”
Also announced by Northam Tuesday, Virginia’s public and private schools will be open this fall, although classrooms will be socially distanced and youth sports will be different than usual, with no shared equipment and no football tackles for the time being.
Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane described the opening plan for school systems, which, like the state reopening plan, will take place in three phases. In Phase One, which is in effect now statewide, schools can open immediately for in-person special education classes and child care.
In Phase Two, which will be in effect statewide Friday, summer camps, preschools and some schools will be allowed to open. Phase Three, which will start when the state enters the phase, will allow all students to come to school, but with safety precautions including 6 feet between desks, daily health screenings for students and teachers, and staggered use of cafeterias or requiring students to eat lunch at their desks.
Lane said a comprehensive guide to the three phases will go out to schools today from the Virginia Department of Education, and that each public school must present its reopening plans to the VDOE, while private schools will send their plans to the Virginia Council of Private Education, which will then share the plans with VDOE.
More details will be out in coming days, Lane added.
As for youth sports, guidelines will include avoiding all intentional contact — such as a tackle on the football field — and not sharing equipment like helmets and bats, said Northam Chief of Staff Clark Mercer. For exercise classes, the rule of thumb will be maintaining 10 feet of distance between participants, he added.
In Confederate monument news, Rita Davis, the governor’s counsel, said that her office is ready to defend the governor’s decision to remove the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond, which a Richmond Circuit Court judge placed under a 10-day injunction Monday night. Under the ruling, the statue can’t be removed before June 18.
A member of the Monument Avenue Preservation Group, Richmonder William Gregory, sued Monday to prevent the statue’s removal. He is a descendant of the original owners of the land the monument occupies.
The governor’s announcement to remove the monument — now with its pedestal covered in spray-painted graffiti — came last week as protests against police brutality and racism reached a fever pitch nationwide, including in Richmond. However, Davis said Tuesday that her office has been preparing for the past year for expected legal challenges over the statue’s removal from state-owned land.
The governor’s counsel’s office was not notified of Monday’s hearing, although it was not required for the court to do so, Davis noted.
“Let’s be clear about one major thing here. Though this monument was cast in the image of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the purpose of this monument was to recast Virginia’s history, to recast it to fit a narrative that minimizes a devastating evil perpetrated on African Americans during the darkest part of our past,” she said, her voice catching a moment. “The governor’s decision today to continue forward with trying to remove this monument takes us a step forward to reclaiming the truth of Virginia’s history and reclaim it for all Virginians. And we look forward to defending that in court.”
A Pulaski-based company is poised to go commercial with technology that removes coal ash and other chemical pollutants from the air — extracting chemicals that can be recycled and sold for industrial use.
A team of scientists at Virginia Tech has released a preliminary report confirming proof of concept, MOVA Technologies President Steven Critchfield said last week, and the final report is expected in about two weeks.
Named Project Revolution, the panel-bed filtration system absorbs fly ash particles, nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide and carbon dioxide from coal-fired chimney stacks at plants. Captured chemicals could then be sold to manufacturers to be used for other purposes, including producing paper, dyes, cement and fertilizers.
“It’s literally going to revolutionize pollution control,” said Critchfield, a prominent property investor in Pulaski County. The new system is expected to cost about 25% less than existing pollution-removal systems, which typically run like catalytic converters, reducing toxic emissions from power plants but not absorbing chemicals, he says.
MOVA has worked closely with Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture, chemistry department and mechanical engineering department, where Joseph Meadows was principal investigator for the proof of concept report, which was released June 29. According to the report, “the Virginia Tech team believes that a successful POC was achieved,” meaning that the system captures gaseous pollutants.
The report was expected four or five months ago, Critchfield said, but the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the process, cutting off the last week of testing at Tech’s Advanced Propulsion and Power Lab. Because MOVA started at Virginia Tech, some of its patents will benefit the university, Meadows said.
Meadows and his colleague, Virginia Tech chemical engineering professor Steve Martin, found that the system’s absorption of nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide “were very promising,” Meadows said Monday. He added that the prototype, which was produced by Lynchburg-based TruCut Fabricators, could use some additional work but that the overall process of converting pollutants into components that industries could reuse “could be revolutionary.”
Over the past year, Critchfield and his colleagues at MOVA have “kept our cards close” about the project, filing patents and raising nearly a million in investment dollars mostly from Virginia-based backers, as well as receiving a grant from Herndon’s nonprofit Center for Innovative Technology.
Once the final proof-of-concept report is released, MOVA’s next move is to apply for commercial permits. The company has already started seeking land in Southwest Virginia for a new manufacturing facility, and Critchfield expects to produce “hundreds” of fabrication jobs that would pay $30-$40 an hour, while MOVA’s corporate headquarters will remain in Pulaski.
Critchfield says he expects to raise about $2 million to $3 million in investment funds, “including what partners will commit,” and he expects the facility to open in about two years.
Last week, MOVA presented information to the Southwest Virginia Energy Research and Development Authority, a marketing organization founded last year to promote alternative and renewable energy technology on sites that include abandoned mines.
Critchfield also envisions working with Dominion Energy Inc., Smithfield Foods and other companies that have clean energy objectives. For instance, at Eastern Shore poultry plants the filters could capture ammonia, methane and hydrogen, removing those pollutants from the air (and, consequently, the Chesapeake Bay) to be recycled into natural fertilizer, Critchfield said.
“I am directing the Department of General Services to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee as soon as possible,” Gov. Ralph Northam declared at a news conference Thursday, flanked by a Lee descendant, the Rev. Robert W. Lee IV, and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.
“It was wrong then, and it is wrong now, so we are taking it down,” the governor continued.
On Wednesday, Stoney announced he would submit an ordinance July 1 to remove the other Confederate monuments along Richmond’s Monument Avenue. The General Assembly passed a bill this year allowing localities to take down Confederate statues.
Northam said the 12-ton, six-story, 130-year-old statue of the Confederate general will be removed and put into storage, and community members will have an opportunity to discuss where it will ultimately go.
Richmond — and the nation — was built on “high ideals for equality,” Northam said, invoking Patrick Henry’s famous words delivered at St. John’s Church in Church Hill, “Give me liberty, or give me death.”
“Those inspiring words and high ideals did not apply to everyone: not then and not now,” Northam said. Down the hill from St. John’s Church was a slave-trading market before the American Civil War, “Americans buying and selling other Americans. Black oppression has always existed in this country, just in different forms.”
The monument, which is on state-owned land, unlike other Confederate statues that sit on land owned by localities, was installed in May 1890 as a crowd of 150,000 people, many waving Confederate flags, watched the unveiling of the monument in what was then a tobacco field.
Northam depicted it as a “glorification of the Lost Cause” and a symbol of oppression.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney opens a news conference in which Gov. Ralph Northam declared the Lee monument would be removed in Richmond.
“As the statues went up, so did new laws. It was all part of the same campaign,” the governor said, including laws that caused the number of black men registered to vote in Virginia to fall from 100,000 to 10,000, and laws directing that Confederate statues could not be taken down. “They needed the statues to stay forever to keep the system in place.”
Institutional racism exists and affects everyone, the governor added, “even if you can’t see it. The eyes can’t see what the mind doesn’t know.” He said that although some people will be angry about the removal of the monument, “I believe in a Virginia that studies its past in an honest way. In Virginia, we no longer preach a false version of history. No one believes that any longer.”
The announcement — which comes more than a year after a racist photo from Northam’s medical school yearbook was publicized — is part of a year of significant changes in the commonwealth. On July 1, laws take effect that decriminalize marijuana possession, establish Election Day as a state holiday, and remove requirements to show a photo ID at polling places.
Many speakers — Attorney Gen. Mark Herring, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, Barbara Johns’ brother Robert, Charlottesville activist Zyahna Bryant, who initially started a petition in 2016 to remove the monument, Stoney and Lee — said that although the statue’s removal is an important step, police brutality, voting rights, criminal justice and health care access are all issues that still require attention.
“There are two pandemics in this country: COVID-19 and racism,” Stoney said. “Both are lethal, especially for black and brown people. We need to show that black and brown lives matter. This is our moral duty.”
Lee, who spoke earlier this year during the General Assembly session to support a bill ending the state’s Lee-Jackson Day holiday, said on behalf of his family: “We support you, and we wholeheartedly commend this act.”
In a prepared statement, DGS said it is “taking steps to carry out this order as soon as possible. The size, scale and location of the monument will require careful planning, which is currently underway, to ensure it is completed safely and effectively.” Spokeswoman Dena Potter added that the department does not yet have details on cost and timeline or storage of the monument, “as we are just beginning planning for the removal.”
In the wake of protests in the city of Richmond, Mayor Levar Stoney announced Wednesday afternoon that he and City Council member Mike Jones will put forward an ordinance July 1 to remove all Confederate monuments on Monument Avenue. The statuary, which has drawn large numbers of protesters — including some from other states — in recent years, was covered in spray-painted graffiti over the weekend during marches decrying police brutality and racism.
Also, according to news reports, Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to announce Thursday he will order the removal of the Robert E. Lee monument on the avenue, which is on state-owned land and is not governed by the city, unlike the other four Confederate statues on Monument Avenue.
The General Assembly passed a measure this year allowing localities to remove Confederate monuments as of July 1. The Robert E. Lee monument, however, is on state-owned land, so the General Assembly and the governor would have to take action on removing it. Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday he would work with the city’s mayor and council if they desire its removal.
A Confederate statue, owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Old Town Alexandria, was taken down Tuesday with little fanfare.
On Sunday, Richmond police officers shot off tear gas on a crowd of apparently peaceful protesters at Lee Monument without warning and before the city’s declared 8 p.m. curfew. Police Chief Will Smith and Stoney apologized for the action, and on Monday, the mayor met outside City Hall with protesters, some of whom called for both him and the police chief to resign, and for the officers responsible to be fired.
The Robert E. Lee monument is on state-owned land and is not under city authority.
Other demands from protesters have included removing the monuments, which are a prominent piece of iconography in the capital city, which was the capital of the breakaway Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. After city-launched discussions in 2017 on what to do with the monuments of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson, Jefferson Davis, J.E.B. Stuart, Robert E. Lee and Matthew Fontaine Maury, armed protesters from out of state showed up to “protect” the statues just weeks after the August 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. The Richmond protest was peaceful, with thousands of counter-protesters against the monuments outnumbering the pro-monument group. Smaller demonstrations took place at other times.
However, Richmond saw significant civil unrest over the past weekend, with a fire set at the United Daughters of the Confederacy building on nearby Arthur Ashe Boulevard and significant anti-police and anti-racism graffiti on the monuments. Nearby, in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the “Rumors of War” monument — a comment on the Stuart statue, depicting a modern-day black person with dreadlocks astride a horse — was unscathed. Artist Kehinde Wiley installed the monument in December.
“Richmond is no longer the Capital of the Confederacy,” Stoney said in his statement Wednesday. “It is filled with diversity and love for all — and we need to demonstrate that.”
The city’s 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, in place from Saturday to Wednesday, has ended and won’t be renewed, the mayor said.
Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin is pursuing an independent investigation into the Sunday tear-gas incident at the Lee monument. Disciplinary action will be taken by the city against any police officers who violated police department policy, the mayor said.
He also pledged to create a citizen review board for the police, and a crisis alert named for Marcus-David Peters, a 24-year-old teacher who was killed by a Richmond police officer while in mental distress in 2018. The officer was not charged, as the killing was deemed justified by former Richmond commonwealth’s attorney Mike Herring.
Protesters, including Peters’ family, have called for these measures since Peters was killed and said the mayor hasn’t listened to their suggestions. Stoney said he and the police department have “been in conversation with [Richmond Behavioral Health Authority] on the creation and implementation of this crisis alert system since 2019,” in the statement, but he plans to talk to Peters’ family in coming weeks.
At 3:30 a.m. Sunday, May 30, Greg Milefsky stood in the middle of his store, Balance Bicycle Shop, on Richmond‘s West Broad Street. The windows were broken, and the bikes — those for sale and ones left by customers for repair — were all gone.
“People were coming in and stealing everything that was left,” Milefsky said Monday. “I unplugged my server and computer and left the way I came, through the broken window.”
Balance Bicycle Shop has been in business eight years at its location near Virginia Commonwealth University. In the early hours of Sunday, it was ground zero for some of the worst civil unrest Richmond has seen in decades.
In downtown Richmond, in an eclectic, mostly local arts-focused business district, protests prompted by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis turned violent Friday and Saturday night. Police were out in force, setting off canisters of tear gas and using pepper spray, while some in the crowds of protesters tagged buildings and windows with spray paint, busted in windows, looted stores and set fires. More than 230 people were arrested Sunday after a citywide 8 p.m. curfew went into effect. Gov. Ralph Northam called a state of emergency, and other Virginia cities and counties saw smaller protests, many of which were peaceful. Virginia Beach and Fredericksburg saw protests turn violent, and the city of Lynchburg set a voluntary 8 p.m. curfew Monday.
On Friday, a police car was torched in front of the Richmond Police Department office on Grace Street and a GRTC Transit System Pulse bus was set on fire in the middle of West Broad Street. The bus cost approximately $470,000, a GRTC spokeswoman said, and the driver had to get out after “protesters surrounded and started swarming the bus. There was no clear option for the driver to move the bus without endangering the lives of protesters.” To the west, Confederate monuments on Monument Avenue were spray-painted with slogans decrying the police and white supremacy.
By Saturday night, minor damage such as graffiti tags had progressed to fires set in the streets, and then came extensive property damage, including a couple of small structure fires and looting of stores on Broad Street. Many affected businesses had only recently reopened after shutdown orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By 11 p.m. Saturday, Milefsky said, “it became obvious I was going to be looted. You could see the progression down to the shop.” Nearby Kroger and Rite-Aid stores were “absolutely decimated,” he said, and other businesses around his store were damaged.
People were smashing in windows with bricks and cobblestones, added Gordon Stettinius, owner of Candela’s Books + Gallery, further east on Broad. He spoke to people who were there — fellow business owners included — in the aftermath, as he and a crew of friends and colleagues boarded up the gallery Sunday and moved valuable pieces of art elsewhere.
Coliseum Deli, a 17-year business in Richmond owned by an Iranian family, was also broken into during weekend protests. A volunteer paints a supportive message on plywood covering a broken window. Photo by Joel Smith.
City Councilor Kim Gray and her daughter were on the scene “when it went sideways” around 1 a.m. Sunday, Stettinius said. Gray, who is running for mayor, took cobblestones out of people’s hands, he said. “The reason I have windows is directly because of Kim Gray. She was tamping down the madness somewhat.”
A Virginia ABC store was broken into and looted that night, and Stettinius said a fellow gallery owner saw “a white dude with a sledgehammer” smashing a window at Corporate & Museum Frame, another store on Broad.
Paul Trible, co-founder and CEO of Ledbury, checked on his downtown Broad Street store during the day Saturday, after the first night of violent protests. “But then Saturday night — we were not down there, but we got a call from one of our neighbors around 10:45 or so that someone had thrown a brick and broken the windows [at the neighbor’s store].”
Trible watched on Twitter a video of “someone jumping out of our store window with a handful of shirts, and actually two people who were there at the protest told people not to loot and take things. They actually followed this guy, ran after him down into Jackson Ward, like, ‘What are you doing? That’s not what this is about.’ We have that footage.”
Jasmine Jahangiri, whose father opened Coliseum Deli 17 years ago in the midst of VCU’s campus, said a large window at their deli was broken after they had closed for the night. Looters “stole cash and soda, sprayed sodas everywhere. They stole some gum and candy, which makes me think they’re kids.” A volunteer said he’d paint a mural on the board covering the broken window, she said.
“We understand the protests,” Jahangiri said of herself and her parents, who emigrated to the United States from Iran. “I personally think the peaceful protests are the way to change, [but] people deserve to be angry. It makes me mad.”
Over on nearby Grace Street, the 120-year-old Waller & Co. Jewelry store — owned by a black family for generations — was also broken into, with watches and men’s jewelry items stolen. A group of volunteers from black sororities and fraternities at Virginia Union University and VCU helped repair damage and bought some of the store’s Greek organization merchandise over the weekend. Others helped set up a GoFundMe page to defray expenses, although the store is covered by insurance. Waller & Co. had just reopened the shop Friday after being closed for two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Leonetty Gray, whose grandfather opened the store in 1900, stood in front of the shop Saturday night for more than three hours trying to protect it, until she felt unsafe and went home. “It was definitely very scary, but I was not going to let them destroy my family’s legacy.” She and her mother, Betty Waller, are the third and fourth generations of Wallers to work in the store, which is now owned by Betty Waller’s brother, Richard. The family is determined to reopen after the curfew is lifted and it is safe again.
“We’re going to persevere,” Betty Waller said.
Preparing for the worst
Many businesses, including Carytown Bicycle Co., were boarded up Monday.
After the ABC store on West Broad Street was looted late Saturday, that location and eight other ABC stores in the city were boarded up, said Taylor Thornberg, a spokesperson for the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. Twenty other ABC stores are closing an hour early at 6 p.m., and ABC is working with local law enforcement on plans to close other stores early.
In Richmond’s Carytown shopping district, which is a couple of miles southwest from the heaviest protests, three stores were broken into over the weekend. Many merchants were taking precautions Monday, with a protest march scheduled for 5 p.m. on Main Street, a block from Carytown. Store owners were less worried about the march, which is likely to be over before Richmond’s 8 p.m. curfew, but were concerned about the possibility of violence later in the night.
Cary Court shopping center was about to be entirely boarded up, as workers hired by property management company Sauer Properties Inc. came bearing planks of wood and tools. In the shopping center, Schwarzschild Jewelers was broken into, and two of its display cases were draped with cloth Monday. Police are investigating, said Kiley Schiffman Storrs, director of marketing for Schiffman’s Jewelers, which owns Schwarzschild’s four stores in Richmond and Charlottesville.
“We completely believe in everyone’s right to free speech,” said Storrs, who is based in North Carolina. “For us, the vandalism is a bit of a shock.”
Down the street, the clothing, shoe and housewares shop Need Supply Co. was protected by plywood and locked after it too was broken into late Saturday, and many other stores and restaurants were boarded up or in the process of doing so. Others placed signs in the windows saying “Black Lives Matter” and “Locally Owned,” hoping for the best.
Several merchants said they agree wholeheartedly with the views of protesters, many of whom say they are marching not only on Floyd’s behalf but for all unarmed black people who have been killed by police. The 2018 killing of Marcus-David Peters, a 24-year-old teacher who was shot by a Richmond police officer who was not charged, is still a source of deep community pain and anger.
‘A perfect storm’
Christopher Turner, who owns Christopher Flowers and sells bouquets on Cary Street, said he empathizes with protesters but also had some items stolen.
Lisa McSherry owns two shops — Mamie’s Apothecary, a months-old bath and cosmetics shop, and the 24-year-old formal dress boutique Lex’s of Carytown. She didn’t plan to board up her windows, which can be expensive for small businesses. The break-ins in Carytown were “very targeted and very criminal,” she said, and seemed more calculated than the damage done on Broad.
Between the pandemic, Richmond’s two-week delay of Phase One of the governor‘s reopening plan, and the protests, “it’s just a perfect storm” for small business owners, McSherry said. She, too, supports the aim of the protests, but added, “I wish it were more peaceful. The daytime ones have appeared to be calm. Nighttime comes and it’s a different vibe.”
Jim Bland, owner of Plan 9 Records, removed most signs and merchandise away from his windows but had not decided to board them up on Monday afternoon. The music store had just reopened, and Bland had begun bringing his employees back to work after closing in mid-March.
“It depends on what we hear during the day,” he said of the possibility of putting up plywood sheets. “I hate the message that it sends.”
Christopher Turner, who has sold flower arrangements both online and outside Can Can Brasserie in Carytown for eight years, also takes a broad view of the situation. “Some people stole some stuff from me Sunday,” he said Monday. “Life is more important than money, but I do want to make my money.”
The owners all say that they’re thankful for the help of their customers, their friends and family members, even strangers who showed up to sweep, nail plywood to protect their businesses, and those who have made donations in the wake of the violence.
Milefsky started a GoFundMe page even though he didn’t want to, “because there were so many people that said they were going to do it for me.” The money, he said, is first going to pay back his customers for their stolen bikes and then to “keep my employees paid.”
He also plans to rebuild, but not in Richmond. He says there’s bound to be more killings in the future and more protests, potentially followed by looting and other damage.
“I can’t spend six months rebuilding my business, only for it to be looted again,” Milefsky said. “I will be looking in Henrico, Hanover, Chesterfield to rebuild.”
Here are fundraising pages for other locally owned businesses damaged in Richmond:
Dominion Energy Inc.’s 1970s-era former headquarters made a big kaboom! Saturday morning as it was imploded in downtown Richmond, making way for a new office tower — although plans for the replacement building have not been finalized. Thousands of people gathered on bridges, hills and sidewalks to watch the spectacle, which was for many the first live entertainment in months amid the coronavirus pandemic. With streets around the 21-story building on 7th and East Cary streets cleared, a demolition team set off dynamite a few minutes after 7 a.m. on a warm and muggy day. Soon, puffs of dust shot out of the building’s windows, and it started to curl in on itself, finally collapsing in a pile of rubble seconds later. Onlookers applauded, put back on their masks and headed home again.
All photos by Caroline Martin. Click to expand.
In late May 2020, Dominion Energy’s office tower in downtown Richmond was demolished. Photo by Caroline Martin
The Virginia Department of Health reported 45,398 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Monday, an increase of 791 from the previous day. There are 1,392 deaths, 17 more than on Friday, and 1,371 people who are positive or have test results pending are hospitalized in the state, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. Nearly 5,900 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from hospitals since the pandemic began.
The state saw an increase of 2,074 new coronavirus cases over the weekend.
The state’s 7-day positivity rate — 11.8% as of June 1, compared with the number of PCR tests conducted — continues to decline. Richmond saw its first significant positivity rate decrease over the last week, with 14.1% reported on May 27, down from 20.5% on May 17. Gov. Ralph Northam said the state will possibly move into Phase 2 of the “Forward Virginia” reopening plan this Friday, although he could delay it further if he deems it necessary.
These are the Virginia localities that have reported 400 or more cases, as of June 1:
Fairfax County: 11,219
Prince William County: 5,663
Loudoun County: 2,611
Alexandria: 2,123
Arlington County: 2,116
Henrico County: 1,858
Chesterfield County: 1,568
Richmond: 1,397
Manassas: 1,105
Accomack County: 917
Harrisonburg: 797
Virginia Beach: 745
Stafford County: 722
Culpeper County: 713
Spotsylvania County: 571
Rockingham County: 541
Chesapeake: 535
Norfolk: 521
Buckingham County: 461
Shenandoah County: 458
Globally, there are 6.19 million reported COVID-19 cases and 372,501 confirmed deaths as of June 1. In the United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, there are 1.79 million confirmed cases and 104,383 deaths attributed to the coronavirus.
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