The Prince William County Government is offering free coronavirus tests for all members of the community on Monday, May 18, and Tuesday, May 19. 

The tests will be conducted at the Hylton Memorial Chapel, 14640 Potomac Mills Road, Woodbridge on May 18  and at Stonewall Jackson Senior High School, 8820 Rixlew Lane, Manassas on May 19 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The tests will be conducted via drive-thru and walk-up, according to a press release from the Prince William County Government. 

“The two-day testing is made possible through the efforts of Prince William County government, Prince William Health District, Virginia Department of Health and Mako Medical Laboratories,” stated the aforementioned press release. 

The free testing comes in light of an incorrect statement made by Potomac District Supervisor Andrea Bailey, who falsely announced that anyone could receive a free test for the new coronavirus from a Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center testing event on Saturday, May 16. The event only provided testing to pre-selected individuals, with a focus on essential workers, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases. 

Those who attend the free testing event on Monday and Tuesday will be directed into one of the multiple lanes (drive-thru or walk-up), asked to give information about themselves (name, birthdate, address, phone number, and current symptoms), and then given the test. 

Those getting a test will be notified of their results by the Virginia Department of Health before the end of the week. 

The Prince William County Government requests that those awaiting a test result follow CDC guidelines to prevent the virus from spreading to additional people in the community, according to a press release. 

According to the CDC, people with symptoms of the new coronavirus are a priority in being tested. Symptoms of the virus include fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, loss of taste and/or smell, vomiting or diarrhea, and/or sore throat. 

While the rest of the commonwealth may be easing restrictions, localities north of the Chopawamsic Creek, to include Prince William County, will remain under a stay-at-home order. 

That means non-essential businesses like churches, spas, barbershops, and entertainment venues like bowling alleys will remain closed. In Stafford County and points south, Virginia residents will begin the first phase of the governor’s plan to reopen the economy, called “safer at home.”

Today, Gov. Northam announced that his plan to reopen the state would not be implemented in most parts of Northern Virginia for two additional weeks due to the high rates of the new coronavirus cases in the region. The announcement comes after Northam on Friday, May 8, announced that he would allow all establishments across the state to reopen Friday, May 15 — one week later than had been initially announced. 

Compared to the rest of state, Northern Virginia has a 25% positivity rate on tests for the new coronavirus, while the rest of the state only has a 10% rate, according to data released by the governor’s office. Additionally, cases of the new coronavirus take up a significantly larger portion of Northern Virginia’s hospitalizations compared to those in the rest of the state, according to the aforementioned data. 

 

“While the data shows Virginia as a whole is ready to slowly and deliberately ease restrictions, it is too soon for Northern Virginia,” said Northam. 

Northam requested that the jurisdictions wishing to remain in ‘Phase Zero’ send him an official request to do so, and as of this morning, the localities remaining in ‘Phase Zero’ are Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas Park, Dumfries, Herndon, Vienna, Leesburg, and Manassas. 

This delayed reopening comes in part from a letter sent to Gov. Northam on May 10 by the Board of Supervisors Chairs of the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and the mayor of Alexandria, urging Northam to keep the stay-at-home order in place for this region.

The letter emphasized that NOVA had not met the regional threshold metrics for reopening (a downward trend of positive tests and hospitalizations over a period of 14 days, enough hospital beds and intensive care capacity, an increasing and sustainable supply of PPE, and increased testing and tracing). 

“We eagerly wish to rebuild our economy and help our residents recover. It is only through our regional achievement of these milestones that we will be positioned to avoid a more damaging return to business closures later in the summer,” stated the letter. 

Multiple elected leaders at the state level support the delayed reopening, citing it as in the best interest of Northern Virginian’s health.

“We must improve health factors before moving towards widespread openings of our economy,” said State Senator George Barker (D-36, Fairfax, Prince William). 

“I agree with local leaders that the Northern Virginia area is not ready to safely reopen for business under Governor Northam’s broad Phase 1 plan. I commend them for their leadership and commitment to public safety,” said Delegate Elizbeth Guzmán (D-31, Dale City, Fauquier County).

“I agree with the assessment that NOVA is not ready to reopen to the same degree in terms of the Phase One reopening. The most dangerous thing we could do is accelerate a reopening plan when we’re not containing the spread of the virus like we should be,” said Delegate Danica Roem (D-13, Gainesville, Manassas Park). 

Not all local leaders in the region agreed with the sentiment. Manassas City Council member Ian Lovejoy said he feels like his jurisdiction, which is landlocked inside Prince William County, is being dragged along for a ride.

“Sometimes regionalization is good. Sometimes it’s bad. The Governor has always said localities have the power to extend restrictions as they see fit. There’s no need to ask the Governor to make this a mandate as a region,” said Lovejoy. “Let Manassas City confer with our business and health leaders and make our own informed decision.”

Meanwhile, Stafford County will begin reopening its economy on Friday, the county announced today.

The county will be ‘revising its building closures to the public’ and ‘reopening most government facilities and offices’ on May 15, in accordance with the Governor’s plan. The building reopenings will come with safety protocols, which will ‘adhere to the 10-person guidance for gatherings.’ Temperature checks will be taken at the entrance to each county office and face coverings are recommended, but will not be provided in any way by the county. 

Stafford County, compared to localities such as Prince William and Alexandria, is only showing a positive case rate of 257 out of 100,000, according to the Northern Virginia Region Dashboard. Prince William County is showing 690 out of 100,000 and Alexandria is showing 778 cases out of 100,000.

“As we reopen to the public, it will be in a way that puts the safety of the public and staff at the number one priority. This decision is based on Stafford’s COVID-19 data trends and is guiding the way we plan to open to the public,” said Stafford County Administrator Tom Foley.

As far as local governments view regions in Virginia, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties are located in Planning District 8, while Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George, and Caroline counties are located in Planning District 16. There is a total of 21 planning districts across the state, all with the goal of bringing regional leaders together to take solve region-specific problems.

Students may be out of school for the rest of the academic year, but their GPAs are still going up.

The Prince William County School Board unanimously approved a motion during their May 6 meeting to direct Superintendent Dr. Steven L. Walts to make adjustments to student transcripts to reflect the new course weighting procedures for fall 2020.

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Gov. Ralph Northam announced on May 2 that Virginia was approved by FEMA to receive three Battelle Critical Care Decontamination Systems which can collectively sanitize 240,000 PPE each day. 

The systems are at no cost to Virginia for the first six months of use, and their decontamination services are free to hospitals and healthcare workers. 

The systems are being installed in the Marching Virginians Center on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, a warehouse in the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, and the Vietnam Veterans Pavilion at the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds near Richmond. 

“This innovative new technology will extend the life of critical PPE like N95 masks, giving our medical facilities and first responders greater access to much-needed supplies and helping the Commonwealth manage our resources amid a nationwide shortage,” Northam said. 

The newly installed decontamination systems could potentially decrease not only Virginia’s demand for PPE, but also West Virginia’s, as the system in Blacksburg is being shared with the state.

More systems are also being made available to Washington D.C., Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. 

The decontamination process is powered by concentrated vapor-phase hydrogen peroxide that the respirator masks are exposed to for 2.5 hours.

The process rids the masks of biological contaminants, including SARS-CoV-2, the contaminant that causes the new coronavirus, according to a press release from Battelle. 

Battelle was awarded a $400 million contract by the Defense Logistics Agency on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and FEMA to provide healthcare workers free decontamination services for N95 respirator masks.

“The contract awarded to Battelle will allow us to staff additional systems to provide a continuous buffer against current and future N95 supply chain challenges,” said Matt Vaughan, Battelle’s Contract Research President.

The United States currently lacks adequate amounts of PPE and will need far more than are currently available to battle this crisis, according to The New England Journal of Medicine.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors unanimously approved a request to add approximately 84 acres of land into an agricultural and forestal district during their board meeting on April 28.

Located near the Nokesville School, the first parcel, located at 13063 Hickerson Lane, is 80 acres. It will be used for fields, forestry, crops, and livestock. The second four-acre parcel is located at 13209 Farmview Road, known as the Madera Farm. It will be used as a “wooded lot to be forested,” according to county documents.

The Agricultural and Forestal Districts are established to “provide a means for a mutual undertaking by landowners and localities to protect and enhance agricultural and forestal land as a viable segment of the Commonwealth’s economy and as an economic and environmental resource of major importance,” according to the Code of Virginia.

This addition occurred while the Prince William County Agricultural and Forestal District was under its periodic review during which owners of the land parcels that make up the district can request to be removed from it.

Many have requested to be removed from the agricultural zone, according to long-range planner Connie Dalton, which has weakened the already weak district where farmland is disappearing. 

“Unfortunately, based upon the review and what we’ve been told, Agricultural and Forestal District 91-1 may be the only one that’s left. Loudoun county has 79,000 acres in their Agricultural and Forestal District, they have 23 of them, we have maybe one at the end of this review session,” said Jason Hickman, an attorney representing the owner of the two parcels of land. 

The added 84 acres, however, may help revitalize the district, according to Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson. 

“These applications will actually strengthen that particular district,” said Lawson.

Lawson gave a directive for Prince William staff to come up with creative incentives for inviting more landowners into the Agricultural and Forestal Districts. 

Starting today, Gov. Ralph Northam is relaxing what were his strict orders that prevented Virginians to have nonessential surgery during the spread of the coronavirus.

“Today, I’m announcing that elective surgery and dental procedures can resume when the public order expires at midnight on [May 1] with guidelines in place to ensure safety for healthcare workers and patients and to maintain an adequate supply of PPE,” Northam said at a press conference on Wednesday, April 29.

Northam banned elective medical procedures on March 25 under as part of his response to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, hospitals across the state have widely been empty, and have had to furlough staff due to lack of business.

The ban was lifted due to measures, such as social distancing, that have slowed the spread of the coronavirus in the region, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

Following the governor’s announcement, officials at Mary Washington Hosptial in Fredericksburg wasted no time telling residents it would resume scheduled surgeries.

“Early on in the process, Virginia hospitals took the precautionary step of postponing non-emergency medical procedures to preserve personal protective equipment (PPE) and to create additional capacity in our facilities,” states Mike McDermott, MD, president and CEO of Mary Washington Healthcare in a press release. “As we consider the current situation in Fredericksburg, and throughout the Commonwealth, we now believe the time is right to begin providing non-emergency, scheduled procedures to people who need care to improve their health outcomes.”

While the spread of the coronavirus has slowed in Virginia, Northam received more outside pressure than simply those statistics to resume elective medical procedures.

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) sent a letter to Northam on April 18 requesting that Public Health Order Two not be extended past April 24 due to their concern about the effect of delaying procedures on patients.

“We are concerned that continuing to delay their care while we have available capacity to address and/or stabilize their conditions will have long-term negative impacts on health across the Commonwealth,” stated the VHHA in their letter.

The VHHA also placed pressure on Northam due to their concern regarding recently furloughed hospital workers.

Hospitals across the state are largely empty and going unused, according to Virginia State Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax), causing them to lose revenue and furlough workers.

There are 6,000 open beds in VHHA hospitals, and 60,000 patients have had their elective surgeries canceled over the past month, according to the VHHA’s letter to the governor.

“Virginia hospitals and health systems have the capacity to meet the medical treatment needs of patients who need procedures that have been postponed due to the pandemic while also maintaining a high level of care for COVID-19 patients,” said Julian Walker, Vice President of Communications at the VHAA.

Both the May General and Special Elections, as well as the June Primary elections, have been postponed by an executive order from Gov. Ralph Northam.

The original May 5 and June 9 elections will now be held on May 19 and June 23, respectively. 

In Prince Willaim County, races in Haymarket, Occoquan, and Quantico are affected. In Fredericksburg, races for city council and school board are delayed.

Northam’s order comes in light of concerns regarding large crowds gathering at polling stations in the wake of the coronavirus. 

The postponement does not allow for new individuals who were ineligible to vote in the May 5 election to do so in the May 19 election, nor does it allow for new candidates to participate in the postponed elections. 

These new dates are not necessarily permanent and are subject to change, according to Prince William County Senior Deputy Registrar Matthew Wilson.

“At this point we are at the whim of the Governor and General Assembly,” Wilson said.

Even though the elections were postponed, Northam still encourages Virginians to vote by absentee ballot, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office.

To receive an absentee ballot for the May 19 election, a request must be sent to the voter’s local registrar’s office by May 12 at 5 p.m. Voters can also request a ballot be sent to them online. 

“Voters completing a paper application may use reason 2A, ‘my disability or illness,’ to complete their form. Voters completing an online application to request an absentee ballot will need to follow the prompts and select ‘I have a reason or condition that prevents me from going to the polls on Election Day,'” stated the press release.

Absentee ballots for the May 19 local elections sent through the mail must be received by the voter’s local general registrar by May 19 at 7 p.m. 

These are the elections in NOVA that have been affected by the postponement:

May 19 Election

Fredericksburg City Council 

• Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Mayor, Incumbent
• Anne G. Little, Mayor
• Jon A. Gerlach
• Matthew J. Kelly, Incumbent
• Kerry P. Divine, Incumbent 

Fredericksburg School Board Election

• Jannan W. Holmes
• Jarvis E. Bailey 

Haymarket Town Council

• David M. Leake., Mayor, Incumbent
• Kenneth M. Luersen, Mayor
• Thomas Carson Utz
• Connor William Leake, Incumbent
• Steven Roy Shannon, Incumbent
• Chris Samuel Morris, Incumbent
• Robert Timothy Day
• Madhusudan Panthi, Incumbent
• TracyLynn Pater
• Robert Marchant Schneider
• Joseph Ralph Pasanello
• Robert Burton Weir 

Occoquan Town Council

• Earnie W. Porta Jr., Mayor, Incumbent
• Eliot Ross Perkins, Incumbent
• Cindy J. Fithian, Incumbent
• Jennifer Michelle Loges
• Laurie Elizabeth Holloway, Incumbent
• Krystyna Michelle Bienia

Quantico Town Council

• Kevin Patrick Brown, Mayor, Incumbent
• Sammoto Yomosa Dabney
• Otis Conrad Baker, Incumbent 
• Alice Catherine Toner
• Earlene Joan Clinton, Incumbent 
• Robin Renne Langham, Incumbent 
• Ashley Rena Langham
• Russell V. Kuhns, Incumbent
• Virginia L. Macfarlan
• Jason Robert Stoltz 

June 23 Election

Manassas City Council Primary Election

City Council At-large

• Pamela J. Sebesky, Incumbent
• Mark D. Wolfe, Incumbent
• Tom C. Osina
• Helen Anne Zurita

Statewide Republican Primary

U.S. Senate

• Daniel M. Gade
• Thomas A. Speciale II
• Alissa A. Baldwin

Prince William County Democratic Primary

U.S. House of Representatives

• Qasim Rashid (VA-1, Prince William, Stafford)
• Lavangelene A. “Vanigie” Williams (VA-1, Prince William, Stafford)
• Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly (VA-11, Fairfax, Prince William)
• Zainab M. Mohsini (VA-11, Fairfax, Prince William)

 

Northern Virginia Community College is offering free online courses to high school students in certain Northern Virginia schools through their new JumpStart Program.

This program allows up to 3,500 students to take and gain transferable college credit from two of the following classes: History and Appreciation of Art I, Introduction to Communication, College Composition I (open only to recent high school graduates), History of World Civilization II, Cloud Computing: Infrastructure and Services, and Quantitative Reasoning.

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The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William, with the partnership of the Prince William County Government, the City of Manassas, and the City of Manassas Park, has created The Prince William County Area Disaster Fund: a relief effort to alleviate the effects of the coronavirus on Prince William County. 

The project is funded through donations from residents and organizations. The ability to donate to the fund was only made available last week, and it has since raised over $10,000, with more donations pouring in by the day. 

“We are so encouraged by just everyone’s willingness to share. We’ve had people say ‘I’m donating my entire stimulus check,’” said Chelsi Conaway, the executive director of The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William.

The money donated will be allocated to community groups in need of funding to aid issues resulting from the new coronavirus. Traditional community groups, such as nonprofit organizations or food banks, are not the only ones who are eligible for funds, Homeowners Associations and fraternal organizations who are aiding in the relief effort are eligible too. 

“The Alliance will administer the money received to interested community groups that can show collaboration, efficiency and impact in their plans to serve Prince William County residents in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic,” says a statement on the The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William’s website. 

The amount of money a community group will receive, of which will be a grant, will depend on the amount of money they need for their efforts and the number of donations the fund receives. In order to get the money, community groups will need to fill out an application, which has not yet been made available, that will gather information about the organization and determine if their intended project aligns with the goals of the fund.

The applications will be open for a four-week period and then closed for a few days to allow the grand review committee, which will also be made up of community groups, to look over them.  

A limit to how many community groups will receive the money has not yet been determined, as it is all based on the number of donations the fund will receive. 

If you are interested in donating to the fund, you can do so by visiting their website, texting the word ‘IMPACT’ to 36413, or by mailing a check made payable to “The Alliance” with “Prince William Area Disaster Fund” in the memo line. The checks should be mailed to The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William, 9073 Center St, Manassas, Va., 20110.

“We really are all in this together, and when we unite and channel our energy and our funds and our resources in one direction it can have a greater impact,” said Conaway.