The safety net
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, many Virginia hospital beds were routinely full. “We are 90% to 100% occupied every day in VCU Health, generally [from] elective surgical care,” says Dr. Ron Clark, interim CEO of VCU Hospitals and Clinics. In the days following Gov. Ralph Northam’s state of emergency declaration, heal[...]
Virginia is for coronavirus
Within the first week of coronavirus spreading into Virginia, Lansdowne Resort and Spa in Leesburg saw about 50% of its conferences and events for March and April immediately postponed or canceled. “For now, it’s a short-term event,” says Rich Keurajian, Lansdowne director of sales and marketing. But that may have been wis[...]
Something in the Water sequel is canceled
Virginia Beach’s annual Something in the Water festival, set to take place in late April, has been canceled due to the coronavirus crisis. It will be back next year on April 23-25, 2021, say organizers. The brainchild of Grammy-winning musician and Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams, the first festival in April 2019 sold[...]
Working in the time of coronavirus
It was the week everything changed. On Saturday, March 7, Virginians woke up to learn that the novel coronavirus sweeping around the world had spread to the Old Dominion, with the news that a U.S. Marine at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax tested positive for COVID-19. By the following Saturday, Gov. Ralph Northam had declared a [&hellip[...]
Out of the office
In an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 and encourage social distancing, state offices, schools and universities across the commonwealth pivoted to telework in mid-March. Amazon.com Inc., Capital One Financial Corp., Elephant Insurance, Dominion Energy Inc., Genworth Financial Inc. and many more companies big and small made[...]
Roanoke city real estate made a rebound. What now?
The city of Roanoke’s real estate values increased by 4.74% last year, the biggest property value increase for the Star City since 2007. Commercial properties’ assessed value jumped by 4.55%. But with the U.S. stock market plummeting to 1987 record lows in March as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted life across the nation, m[...]
Five more COVID-19 deaths announced in Virginia; total at 27
Regional health departments announced five more deaths related to COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the state’s confirmed total to 27. Arlington Health District, which had 84 cases reported Sunday, the second-most in a locality in Virginia, reported its first two deaths from the coronavirus. The first patient was a 72-year-old with chronic medical conditions, who had […]
COVID-19 cases reach 890 on Sunday; 22 deaths in Virginia
Virginia now has 890 COVID-19 cases, the Virginia Department of Health reported Sunday in its 9 a.m. website update. Twenty-two people are reported dead from causes related to the virus, and there are 112 people hospitalized with symptoms, and 10,609 people have been tested. The number of positive cases jumped 151 from Saturday’s update of […]
First COVID-19 death reported in Western Tidewater Health District
A man in his 60s has died from respiratory failure in a hospital, Western Tidewater Health District announced Saturday in a news release. This is the district’s first COVID-19 fatality and likely the 19th death statewide, pending tests on two cases Friday afternoon. The patient had several underlying medical conditions, which exacerbated the effects of […]
Virginia COVID-19 cases nearly at 750
Amid warnings from health officials that Virginia could see COVID-19 cases spike tenfold in the next 10 days, Virginia now has 739 confirmed cases, as of Saturday, March 28, up from 604 the previous day. Ninety-nine people are hospitalized in the commonwealth and as many as 18 may have died from the virus, pending test […[...]
Avula: Virginia COVID-19 cases could jump 10X in next week and a half
Dr. Danny Avula, director of the Henrico County and Richmond health departments, warned Friday, “We need to be prepared that we might have a 10x jump [in the number of COVID-19 cases] in the next week and a half” in the state, which would overwhelm hospitals. Virginia has 604 cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, […[...]
Prince William Health District reports first COVID-19 death; Fairfax reports second death
A man in his 70s died Friday in a hospital from respiratory failure, Prince William Health District officials announced Friday evening. It is the first COVID-19 death recorded in the district, which includes Manassas and Woodbridge Fairfax County Health District reported its second coronavirus death, a man in his 60s who contracted the virus during […]