More than 366,000 Virginians are still unemployed following the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and initial jobless claims rose by more than 6,000 last week.
Nearly 32,000 Virginians filed initial claims last week, an increase of 6,662 from the week prior. In Virginia, 366,714 people remain unemployed, which is 346,917 more than the same week last year, which saw only 19,797 continued claims. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.
“Jobless claims remain high as another 33,062 Virginians filed an initial claim for unemployment insurance last week,” Dominique Johnson, research associate at Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, said in a statement. “While the Virginia economy continues to show signs of improvement, even as other states reinstate lockdown measures due to recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, the uncertainty for Virginia’s economy in the coming months remains high.”
For the month of May, the unemployment rate in Virginia was 9.2%, compared to only 2.7% during May 2019, according to VEC statistics released Thursday.
The 10 localities with the highest unemployment rates for May 2020 include:
Petersburg, 17.2%
Bath County, 15.8%
Martinsville, 14.7%
Emporia, 14.5%
Hopewell, 13.9%
Covington, 13.8%
Danville, 12.7%
Pulaski County, 12.7%
Williamsburg, 12.6%
Newport News, 12.6%
Falls Church had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.9%, followed by Highland County, Madison County, Arlington, Poquoson, Richmond County, King George County, Nottoway County, Southampton County and Lunenburg County — each of which reported an unemployment rate lower than 7%.
Last week, 1.42 million people in the United States filed initial claims for unemployment, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics released Thursday, bringing the total of unemployed Americans to nearly 49 million in the wake of the pandemic and economic crisis.
U.S. claims were down by 55,000 from the week prior. For the week ending June 13, 47 states reported that nearly 13 million people are claiming federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides temporary benefits for people who are not eligible for regular or traditional unemployment insurance.
Nonfarm payroll employment (goods, construction and manufacturing companies) in June increased by 4.8 million in the U.S. and the hospitality sector added 2.1 million jobs, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsdata.
“The June jobs report just happened to coincide with the trough of COVID-19 cases in the United States and likely represents a peak in activity given the surge in cases in late June and early July, Robert McNab, director of the Dragas Center, said in a statement. “While it is good news, there is a steep hill to climb.
“African-Americans and Hispanics continue to be disproportionately harmed by the COVID-19 recession and experience greater rates of hospitalization and mortality from COVID-19. We continue to project a long, slow and uncertain recovery.”
The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.
Below are the top 10 localities, listed by number of initial unemployment claims, for the week ending June 27:
Thirty-nine states reported 749,703 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provides up to an additional 13 weeks of regular or traditional unemployment insurance benefits to those who have exhausted their eligibility.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 13.2% for the week that ended June 20, unchanged from the previous week.
The states and U.S. territories with the highest insured unemployment rates for the week ending on June 13 were Puerto Rico, Nevada, Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, New York, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Georgia and Connecticut.
States with the largest increases in initial claims for the week that ended on June 20 were California, Maryland, Florida, New Jersey and Indiana, while the largest decreases were seen in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Oregon, Georgia and New York.
A joint Virginia Commonwealth University and Yale University study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the COVID-19 death counts reported to the U.S. public underestimate the true death toll of the pandemic in the country.
“There are several potential reasons for this under-count,” lead author Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of VCU‘s Center on Society and Health, said in a statement. “Some of it may reflect under-reporting; it takes a while for some of these data to come in. Some cases might involve patients with COVID-19 who died from related complications, such as heart disease, and those complications may have been listed as the cause of death rather than COVID-19.”
And although the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. has increased death rates in recent months, deaths attributed to COVID-19 account for only about two-thirds of the death rate increase in March and April, according to the study.
From March 1 to April 25, there were 87,001 excess deaths (deaths above the expected number, based on averages from the past five years), but only 65% of those deaths were attributed to COVID-19, according to “Excess Deaths from COVID-19 and Other Causes, March-April 2020.” And in 14 states, including California and Texas, more than 50% of excess deaths were tied to underlying causes not related to coronavirus.
“[A] possibility, the one we’re quite concerned about, is indirect mortality — deaths caused by the response to the pandemic,” Woolf said in a statement. “People who never had the virus may have died from other causes because of the spillover effects of the pandemic, such as delayed medical care, economic hardship or emotional distress.”
The study also shows that deaths from causes unrelated to COVID-19 rose more sharply in states that saw the most coronavirus deaths in March and April, including Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Diabetes deaths in those states rose 96% above the expected number when compared to weekly averages in January and February this year. Heart disease deaths rose 89%, Alzheimer’s deaths rose 64% and stroke deaths rose 35%.
But the most staggering of all was a 398% heart disease death rate increase in New York City and a 356% diabetes death rate increase.
The study suggests that some of these deaths occurred during acute emergencies (such as heart attack or stroke) in people who were too afraid to go to the hospital during the pandemic.
“We can’t forget about mental health,” Woolf said in a statement. “A number of people struggling with depression, addiction and very difficult economic conditions caused by lockdowns may have become increasingly desperate, and some may have died by suicide. People addicted to opioids and other drugs may have overdosed.
“All told, what we’re seeing is a death count well beyond what we would normally expect for this time of year, and it’s only partially explained by COVID-19.”
Further studies are needed to determine the number of COVID-19 deaths versus indirect deaths “caused by disruptions in society that diminished or delayed access to health care and the social determinants of health (e.g., jobs, income, food security),” Woolf and co-authors Derek Chapman, Roy Sabo and Latoya Hill of VCU and Daniel M. Weinberger of Yale wrote in the study.
“The findings from our VCU researchers’ study confirm an alarming trend across the U.S., where community members experiencing a health emergency are staying home — a decision that can have long-term, and sometimes fatal, consequences,” Dr. Peter Buckley, interim CEO of VCU Health System and interim senior vice president of VCU Health Sciences, said in a statement. “Health systems nationwide need to let patients know it is safe and important to seek care in a health emergency, whether it’s through telehealth or in person.”
The VCU/Yale joint research was funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Public officials need to be thinking about behavioral health care and ramping up their services for those patients in need,” Woolf said in a statement. “The absence of systems to deal with these kinds of other health issues will only increase this number of excess deaths.”
With the initiation of a swath of bills passed during the most recent Virginia General Assembly session, the bill that creates the Minority Business Commission went into effective Wednesday, July 1.
The Minority Business Commission will provide policy input and operational guidance to the General Assembly with a goal of addressing challenges facing minority business owners. Gov. Ralph Northam’s signature on the budget bill funded and authorized the creation of the commission.
The legislation to create the commission was first introduced as HB 124, patroned by Del. Jason Miyares, R-Virginia Beach, and co-patroned by Dels. Joshua Cole, D-Fredericksburg; Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News; Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington; Clinton Jenkins, D-Suffolk; Kenneth Plum, D-Reston; Glenn Davis, R-Norfolk and Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg.
HB 124 patrons worked with Tiffany Boyle, Newport News commissioner of the revenue, and regional and state leaders in the minority business community to develop the concept and content of the bill. HB 124 didn’t pass, but the provision creating the commission was later added to HB 30 (the budget bill), which eventually passed, says Marcus A. Calabrese, public information officer for Boyle’s office.
Participating organizations and representatives in the commission include:
“What began as a conversation has become a commission which will take the best practices and lessons learned from the participating organizations and our supporting legislators,” Boyle said in a statement.
Appointments to the Minority Business Commission have not yet been made, but Speaker of the House Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, will be the one to make the appointments, says Calabrese.
Roanoke-based construction company The Branch Group Inc. announced Wednesday that CEO Will Karbach has resigned. Ron Oakley, the current chairman of the board, will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately.
Upon the announcement Wednesday afternoon, The Branch Group had not provided a reason for Karbach’s departure and did not respond to immediate requests for comment.
Karbach joined The Branch Group in 2007, serving as president of the company’s Branch Highways subsidiary. While serving as president, he was named as the CEO of the entire family of companies in 2010. The group now includes Branch Civil (which was once Branch Highways), Branch Builds, G.J. Hopkins (mechanical and electrical services) and L.A. Lacy (mechanical and plumbing services). Karbach is also currently a board member of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
As CEO, Karbach oversaw operations and development of all four companies. Oakley, who has served on the board since 2018, will assume the day-to-day responsibility for running The Branch Group. The presidents of the four operating companies, as well as the chief financial officer and chief human resources officer, will report to Oakley.
Ron Oakley
He will remain the chairman of the board and will help to identify a permanent CEO with the board of directors and executive team.
Oakley has worked in the engineering and construction industry for more than 45 years and had recently retired as CEO of design and construction company M+W (now Exyte), which primarily served technology customers. He has also worked with the Virginia Department of Transportation. He played a major role in the Interstate 895 bypass project around Richmond, which was the first Public Private Transportation Act project in the state.
With about $500 million in 2019 revenues and more than 900 employees, The Branch Group is the fifth-largest general contracting company in Virginia. Currently, the firm is working on major projects at Interstate 81 Exit 150, Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke College, Liberty University and an assisted living facility in Culpeper.
This story will be updated as information becomes available.
After postponing its original April 1 merger date due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Atlanta-based law firm Troutman Sanders LLP and Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton LLP announced Wednesday they have merged to become Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP (Troutman Pepper).
Among Troutman Pepper’s 23 nationwide offices, the Richmond location is one of the newly merged law firm‘s largest, behind only Troutman Sanders’ legacy office in Atlanta and Pepper Hamilton’s legacy Philadelphia office.
Troutman Sanders had long been one of the largest law firms in the Richmond region, along with McGuireWoods LLP, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and Williams Mullen. But now with the merger, Troutman Pepper becomes the largest Richmond firm, in terms of total firm size, says Brooks Smith, managing partner of Troutman Pepper’s Richmond office, who will continue in his position during the merger. The Richmond office has 130 lawyers and 250 total employees.
Brooks Smith. Photo courtesy Troutman Pepper
“My vision for Richmond is to continue to grow our Virginia presence to meet the needs of our clients,” Smith says. “We’re very much growth focused.”
Pepper Hamilton did not have any attorneys working from Virginia and there are no plans right now to move any former Pepper Hamilton attorneys to the commonwealth, says firm spokesperson John Reynolds. Troutman Pepper also has a location in Virginia Beach with 40 lawyers and 70 total employees. Troutman Sanders also had a Northern Virginia office, which was merged into its Washington, D.C., office in May 2018.
“The excitement we feel in Richmond is born out of all these new capabilities in the merge,” Smith says. “We get new colleagues and new practice expertise. We get access to Pepper’s client base. And we get all of the support of a deeper bench to try to provide service to our local clients.”
Steve Lewis. Photo courtesy Troutman Pepper
The merger creates a national law firm with more than 1,100 lawyers representing clients in sectors including health sciences, energy, real estate, insurance, finance, private equity, construction and technology. The joint firm will be led by Chair and CEO Steve Lewis, former managing partner of Troutman Sanders.
“The mission of our firm is a higher commitment to client care,” Lewis said in a statement. “We will surpass what clients expect or appreciate, focusing on what they value. Our expanded capabilities and bigger footprint will allow us to deliver a new level of service to our clients.”
During the period when the merger was postponed, the firms partnered to launch a COVID-19 Resource Center, providing clients guidance on legal and business issues related to the pandemic.
“Delaying the merger allowed us to prioritize the health and safety of our people,” Lewis said in a statement. “In the interim, our firms have come together in meaningful ways to guide clients through this difficult time. As our industry and indeed all industries continue to grapple with the challenges created by the health crisis, we know that we are stronger as one firm and choose to move forward together.”
With the merger now completed, firm leaders say Troutman Pepper plans to focus on talent and innovation.
Andrea Farley, partner compensation committee chair; Tom Cole, managing partner; Steve Lewis, chair and CEO; and Tom Gallagher, vice chair.
“Excellent attorneys have been the foundation of both firms, and we will continue to be at the forefront of the industry in developing and supporting our outstanding legal talent,” said Troutman Pepper Vice Chair Tom Gallagher in a statement. “How we treat one another, create welcoming workplaces, and give back to our communities were values each of our firms honored. They are the foundation of the Troutman Pepper culture.”
As a corporate partner to Startup Virginia, the firm also looks forward to integrating Pepper’s existing SEED program, focused on helping startup companies and early-stage entrepreneurial companies, Smith says. Pepper has provided holistic legal support to more than 300 of these businesses.
“We’ve really tried to focus our efforts and our mentorship on a group of early-stage entrepreneurs, so I’m excited to bring SEED to Virginia,” Smith says. “We’ll be able to leverage that experience from Pepper and do better and more for those startups.”
Troutman Pepper has also appointed Tom Cole as managing partner and Andrea Farley as chair of the firm’s partner compensation committee.
The Virginia 30 Day Fund, a Charlottesville-based nonprofit, announced Wednesday it has disbursed 500 “lifelines” — or $3,000 forgivable loans — to small businesses in Virginia that have financially struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seeded with $100,000 from tech entrepreneur Pete Snyder and his wife, Burson, the Virginia 30 Day Fund was born to fill the gap in cash flow small businesses were experiencing in the month while they waited for federal Paycheck Protection Program funding. Since its April inception, the Virginia 30 Day Fund has raised more than $3 million from corporate and individual donors.
“Small businesses throughout Virginia are still struggling and for as long as this pain continues, we are going to provide a shot in the arm to as many small businesses and help save as many jobs as possible,” Snyder said in a statement. “While there is so much economic pain out there and so much more work to be done, hitting this milestone of funding 500 businesses means that more than 500 families get to keep their dream alive and more than 3,400 Virginians can stay on the payroll for another month.”
The Dip Dog Stand, a Smyth County hot dog restaurant, was the 500th small business to receive funding from the Virginia 30 Day Fund.
“We have been in business 62 years and have never seen anything like this. It’s taking all we have to keep going,” said Pam Hall, who owns Dip Dog Stand with her husband Grant, in a statement. “We are well-known and our employees need to keep their jobs and this is our only means of living.”
Virginia 30 Day Fund grants do not have to be repaid, but recipients are encouraged to “pay it forward” and repay the forgivable loan amount when they’re able so that other businesses can receive assistance through the fund.
Unlike federal PPP loans, which can take up to a month to make decisions, Snyder promises applicants to the Virginia 30 Day Fund an answer on funding within three business days. The application review process is powered by a mix of 50 alums from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business. Eligible businesses must be for-profit, have three to 30 employees, be based in Virginia, have been operating for at least one year and be owned and operated by a Virginia resident.
“We are so proud to support Dip Dog Stand as our 500th business, and we aren’t stopping there,” Snyder said in a statement. “Our all-volunteer Virginia 30 Day Fund team is committed to raising and distributing the funds at-risk Virginia small businesses need, for as long as the need remains.”
Virginia Tech announced Tuesday it has hired Kristin Gehsmann as the director of the School of Education, effective Aug. 1. She will also serve as an education professor.
Gehsmann was most recently a professor and chair of the department of literacy studies, English education and history education at East Carolina University. During her time at ECU, Gehsmann created an online master’s program and worked to increase peer-reviewed scholarly work and sponsored research — and is credited for raising $20 million in sponsored research and programs. She also worked to advance early learning and early reading legislation. Before ECU, she had been an elementary school teacher and an assistant professor at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont.
In her new role, Gehsmann says she will be focused on equity and innovation in education. “When it comes to education, it’s crucial to consider how we can improve people‘s access to higher education and opportunities for continuous learning and growth,” she said in a statement. “We need to put ladders in place so more people can reach their goals.”
The Virginia Tech School of Education currently offers 18 master’s programs, 20 doctoral programs and 14 teaching licensure programs, along with educational specialist programs, advanced licensure endorsement programs and graduate certificate programs.
Gehsmann earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in early childhood education from Central Connecticut State University. She earned a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Vermont. She has co-authored two literacy development and literacy assessment textbooks, set to come out later this year.
When tech entrepreneur Pete Snyder and his wife, Burson, returned home to Charlottesville from taking their 5-year-old daughter to Walt Disney World this spring, they came home to a business community struggling after COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.
“Our view is we’re at war right now,” Snyder says. “It has two fronts: One is a health and wellness war … but then there’s an economic front of the war that’s absolutely savaging Main Street and small businesses.”
Despite record-breaking gifts to universities and nonprofit organizations in 2019 and early 2020 — including a $68 million gift to the Darden School of Business and $50 million gifts to Virginia Tech and George Mason University — philanthropic giving in Virginia this year has quickly pivoted from traditional donations to gifts that are responding to recent national crises.
Beginning in March, donors organized fund drives and other efforts to help businesses, organizations and individuals impacted by the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Then in June, major corporate donors made significant gifts to support social justice initiatives in a show of support for nationwide protests against racial injustice, which were sparked by the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A disease that knows no bounds
Tackling the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, the Snyders came up with an idea to send forgivable $3,000 “lifelines” to small businesses across the state. They gatheredinput from local businesses and the philanthropic community on how the private sector could provide relief faster than the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was taking nearly a month to fulfill loan requests and saw its first round of funding quickly run out in the face of overwhelming need.
Seeded with $100,000 from the Snyders, the Virginia 30 Day Fund was born to fill the gap in cash flow small businesses were experiencing in the month while they waited for PPP funds. The Snyders’ gift was quickly matched by another family who wished to remain anonymous, and as of mid-May the fund had raised nearly $1 million. Donations — both large and small — have come from individuals, foundations and companies to be disbursed to businesses across the state. In early June, The Harvest Foundation in Martinsville donated $1 million to the Virginia 30 Day Fund to launch a targeted relief fund for small businesses in Martinsville and Henry County.
On the fund’s debut day, April 6, more than 120 applications flooded in. Receiving more than 1,000 applications since its inception, the Virginia 30 Day Fund had granted funding to 340 small businesses as of early June.
Unlike the PPP loans, Snyder promises applicants an answer within three business days. The application review process is powered by a mix of 50 alums from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business.
“Like the disease, the economic disease that has hit our Main Street knows no bounds,” Snyder says of the variety of applications he’s seen. “It’s the nail salon, it’s the charter boat fisherman, … the technology marketing company … [and] the packaging company.”
The CEO of angel investor firm Disruptor Capital, Snyder is a well-known figure in the state GOP and is said to be mulling a bid for the 2021 Republican nomination for governor. (He told The Washington Post the fund has no connection to his political aspirations.) He is also the founder and former CEO of New Media Strategies, an Arlington-based social media communications firm that was later acquired by Ohio-based Meredith Corp.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of his Virginia 30 Day Fund is its request to “pay it forward.” Even though the loans are forgivable, applicants are asked to repay their loans, if they’re able, once they’re back on their feet so that those funds in turn can be redirected to other small businesses in need.
“I am a fairly stoic guy,” Snyder says. “My wife, Burson, has seen me cry maybe like four or five times prior to this. … Now I cry like two or three times a week. And it’s because when I make these acceptance calls for the applicants, 60% of the time the applicant is crying over $3,000. I mean it’s that bad.”
Until small businesses have their footing again, Snyder plans to keep the fund going.
“We’re called the Virginia 30 Day Fund — we’re supposed to be extinct after 30 days,” Snyder says. “But unfortunately, the [federal] system really isn’t working right now.”
The PATH Foundation in Warrenton disbursed $850,000 to support local food banks, including the Fauqier FISH food pantry (pictured above), child care organizations and others in need. Photo courtesy PATH Foundation
‘Actions speak louder’
Foundations and large corporations have also stepped in to help essential workers, nonprofits and families during the pandemic. In late March, The Community Foundation in Richmond partnered with the Emergency Management Alliance of Central Virginia and PlanRVA to create a $3 million Central Virginia COVID-19 Response Fund to support Richmond-area nonprofits responding to the pandemic. The fund prioritizes safety net clinics, food access providers, child and adult care organizations, and housing providers for the homeless.
The fund was seeded with a $500,000 contribution from The Community Foundation, along with contributions from Altria Group Inc., Atlantic Union Bank, Bank of America, The Cabell Foundation, Capital One Financial Corp., CarMax Foundation, Dominion Energy Inc., Genworth Financial, the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation, the Robins Foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Wells Fargo and individual donors.
“We are fortunate to see the extraordinary generosity of our community at work every day,” says Sherrie Armstrong, president and CEO of The Community Foundation, “but we are especially proud of the quick and coordinated response of our cross-sector partners at a time of unprecedented need and uncertainty.”
The PATH Foundation, based in Warrenton, also disbursed nearly $850,000 to support childcare organizations (necessary for essential workers), food banks as well as health care and internet access.
“In this time of need, our emergency funds are designed to complement the work of public health officials … [and] ease the burdens our community is facing,” Christy Connolly, president and CEO of The PATH Foundation, said when the funding was announced in mid-April.
Also aiding essential workers, Delta Dental of Virginia in late May donated $3 million among 4,500 member dentists in Virginia to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), which has been in high demand due to the pandemic.
Many businesses and nonprofits, including Virginia Beach-based Operation Smile, have provided free meals to frontline medical workers and other essential workers to show their appreciation.
Virginia-based corporations have made significant gifts to COVID-19- related causes. In late April, McLean-based food products manufacturer Mars Inc. donated $20 million for deploying critical supplies in developing countries and supporting food programs, while Smithfield Foods Inc. committed $30 million worth of food to Feeding America.
Henrico County-based Altria, one of the world’s largest tobacco product manufacturers, donated approximately $7 million among Feeding America, The Community Foundation and the American Red Cross, while Richmond-based energy company Dominion Energy Inc. donated $1 million to organizations including the American Red Cross.
With more people telecommuting and schools and universities moving classes online, Truist Financial Corp. (which has more than 400 locations in Virginia), donated $9 million to provide laptops and LTE networks in Virginia homes.
And as Black Lives Matter protests spread across all 50 states, Altria and Dominion also announced in early June that they had each committed $5 million in donations to funding nonprofits fighting racial injustice, as well as helping minority-owned and small businesses impacted by protests. Goochland County-based CarMax also announced plans to donate
$1 million to the efforts in 2020.
“At Dominion Energy, we have a saying that‘Actions speak louder,’” says Dominion President, Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Farrell II. “We share the anger of our communities at the unjustified deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. Our communities are grieving. Words can evoke empathy, compassion and understanding, but actions truly speak louder, so we are investing in recovery and reconciliation, and in the vital work of overcoming years of debilitating actions, attitudes and abuses of authority that have traumatized our country.”
‘Frontline impact’
Charlottesville-area businessman Paul Manning donated $1 million to establish a fund to encourage COVID-19 research at the University of Virginia. Photos courtesy University of Virginia
Other major gifts made this year centered on medical research to battle the coronavirus pandemic directly.
In May, Charlottesville-area businessman and investor Paul Manning established The Manning Fund for COVID-19 Research to support the University of Virginia’s efforts to develop coronavirus- related research projects. His $1 million gift will help U.Va. researchers develop testing improvements, therapies and vaccines, as well as strategies for reopening communities safely.
Manning founded Charlottesville-based private equity firm PBM Capital Group LLC in 2010 and has served on the U.Va. Strategic Planning Committee, the U.Va. Health Foundation, the U.Va. President’s Advisory Committee and the university’s Honor the Future Campaign Executive Committee.
“U.Va. researchers are already working on some of the most important issues of our day,” Manning says. “I hope this fund promotes bold, innovative research applications with a frontline impact that can help mitigate the virus and its broader effects on our world.”
Projects funded by The Manning Fund must be acted upon quickly and have commercialization potential. These can include new medical devices, COVID-19 treatments, diagnostics products, consumer testing kits, biomarkers or ideas for vaccines, says Melur K. “Ram” Ramasubramanian, U.Va.’s vice president for research. Most of the projects will be leveraging and building on existing technologies and treatments, he added.
Melur Ramasubramanian. Photo courtesy University of Virginia
“Often you don’t really discover new ideas quickly,” Ramasubramanian says. “You build on things that work on viruses.”
The fund made its initial awards in June, selecting eight projects from more than 50 proposals. The projects, which will each receive up to $100,000 in grant funding, range from efforts to improve antibody testing to employing big data and analytics in early detection of cardiorespiratory problems in COVID-19 patients.
“We are confident that we can deliver on what we promised because we know the grassroots energy is there,” Ramasubramanian says. “A great university makes amazing discoveries [that] eventually have an impact on society. But the good part comes when you focus on the community around you.”
After a rough spring, Colonial Williamsburg reopened June 14 on a limited basis, although visitorsmay notice modern reality intruding in the form of face masks and Plexiglas barriers.
With nearly 2,000 workers, Colonial Williamsburg is one of the Peninsula region’s largest employers, but it was especially hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic’s economic fallout. More than 700 employees were furloughed or placed on administrative leave, and all of the Historic Area’s hotels and restaurants were closed for at least two months.
As a result, Williamsburg hotel revenues fell 87% in June as compared with last year, according to data from Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. Much of the city’s tourism dollars depend on Colonial Williamsburg and Busch Gardens, which has not announced when it plans to reopen.
In mid-June, while the state entered Phase Two of Gov. Ralph Northam’s “Forward Virginia” plan, Colonial Williamsburg began by reopening 13 of its nearly 50 historic sites and offering programs outdoors.
“We are eager to welcome employees and guests back to Colonial Williamsburg, but reopening our public sites requires that we work together so that we all remain safe,” says Colonial Williamsburg Foundation President and CEO Cliff Fleet. The former president and CEO of Philip Morris USA, he took the helm of Colonial Williamsburg on Jan. 1.
The Williamsburg Lodge and Colonial Houses, a bed-and-breakfast-style establishment, are now open, as are some restaurants, including Chowning’s Tavern. The Governor’s Inn closed in 2019, and a developer has submitted plans for an apartment complex there.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which runs the historic site, already was contending with a decline in visitors, from 1.2 million in 1988 to 550,000 in 2018. The foundation owns about $1 billion in assets, including the 301-acre campus, two art museums, 14 retail outlets and a golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones.
Although Norfolk and Virginia Beach‘s hotel occupancy rates, as well as other top markets, improved somewhat in June, it’s going to take time for the hospitality industry to recover, says ODU economist Vinod Agarwal, deputy director of the Dragas Center.
“We should brace ourselves for a continued slow rebound as the nation and the commonwealth largely reopens from COVID-19. It will take time for business and leisure travelers to fill rooms again.”
As Blackbird Bakery owner Randall Perkins watched businesses on the Tennessee side of Bristol’s State Street reopen after mandatory coronavirus shutdowns in April, he wondered why Virginia’s state government didn’t allow Bristol, Virginia, businesses to reopen then too – especially given the fact that the city only logged four COVID-19 cases as of mid-June.
The heart of downtown Bristol is home to more than 150 businesses, and State Street marks the Virginia-Tennessee state line. Normally, that division isn’t very apparent, but it became much more noticeable in April and May as Tennessee restaurants began welcoming customers back into dining rooms and Virginia restaurants were still limited to takeout and delivery.
“Many Virginia businesses reopened later than those in Tennessee … which did result in Tennessee businesses being busier than their Virginia counterparts,” says Perkins, whose business falls on the Virginia side. “Upon reopening, sales at Blackbird are down significantly.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s phased reopening began April 27, but Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam didn’t launch Phase One of his “Forward Virginia” reopening plan until May 15.
Not every Tennessee business took advantage of the early reopening, however.
“We’re definitely in a unique situation right now,” says Spence Flagg, owner of Cascade Draft House in Bristol, Tennessee. Flagg is taking a cautious approach to reopening after hearing that another local restaurant closed one day after reopening because an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
“Just because we can [reopen] doesn’t mean we should,” Flagg says. “We could have opened right when the governor said we could, but we … wanted to see how it played out. We didn’t want to be the experiment.”
Now that restrictions against indoor dining and retail shopping also were relaxed in Virginia, “that is going to be fabulous for State Street as a whole,” says Kimberly Christner, president and CEO of Cornerstone Hospitality, which owns and operates The Sessions Hotel.
Located on the Virginia side of State Street, the hotel named after the city’s famed birth-of-country music recording sessions pushed its grand opening from April 1 to June 29. With Virginia reopening for business, The Sessions Hotel has seen an uptick in bookings for July, August and September.
“Everyone is ready to get out and travel,” Christner says. “We’re just primed right now for those travelers who are looking for some experiences outside of their home.”
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The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
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This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
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The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
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The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
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