The latest
- D.C. has granted early release to some inmates incarcerated for misdemeanors, while Virginia is considering a similar measure for some of its inmates in state prisons.
- Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he is forming a nursing home task force to stop the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes.
- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is ordering a statewide budget and hiring freeze and warned of cuts after “worst-case-scenario” projections show a $2.8 billion revenue shortfall.
- Maryland has unveiled a new website called COVIDConnect for coronavirus survivors to share their stories and connect with researchers.
- A total of 330 people have died in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, where the number of positive cases hit more than 13,000 Friday.
DC grants early release of inmates, while Virginia considers similar measure
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser granted early release Friday to some inmates in the DC Jail.
Under the recently passed “COVID-19 Response Emergency Amendment Act of 2020,” 36 eligible inmates in the jail will receive 75 days of additional good-time credits. These inmates were incarcerated for misdemeanor convictions; half of the eligible inmates qualify for immediate release.
Those released will receive social and health services support, the mayor’s office said.
Bowser’s order comes as D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said that Hope Village, the largest federally contracted men’s halfway house located in Southeast, will not be extending or renewing its contract, expiring April 30, with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday he is proposing allowing the Department of Corrections to release state prison inmates who have a year or less left on their sentences and who aren’t a “threat to public safety,” citing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
The move requires the approval of the General Assembly. Lawmakers will return to session in Richmond on April 22.
Until then, the corrections department will begin planning on how individuals can safely be released, Northam said.
Brian Moran, the secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, said this is the first time the DOC would get the authority to release inmates.
The authority to do so would last for the duration of the public health emergency, and just under 2,000 inmates would be eligible.
Regarding the upcoming General Assembly session, Northam said the House of Delegates plans to meet outdoors in a tent and the Senate plans to meet in a tent at the Science Museum in Richmond so lawmakers and their staff can practice social distancing.
White House to announce task force to open US, as worldwide deaths from COVID-19 surpass 100,000
President Donald Trump had hoped to open the U.S. by Easter, drawing alarms from health experts who warned that there could be a resurgence of infections if the country reopens too early.
On Friday, Trump said that he would be announcing what he called the “Opening our Country” task force next Tuesday to work toward that goal, The Associated Press reported.
“I want to get it open as soon as possible,” he said Friday during a briefing, while adding: “The facts are going to determine what I do.”
Amid an economic downturn and soaring job losses, Trump has been eager to reopen the country.
Meanwhile, the worldwide death toll from the coronavirus surged past 100,000 on Friday, which includes some 18,000 in the U.S., The Associated Press reported. Hot spots continue to emerge in Detroit, Louisiana and D.C., and the U.S. is on track to overtake Italy as the country with the highest number of dead.
Friday’s tally from Johns Hopkins University shows that some 1.7 million are infected.
New website for coronavirus survivors in Maryland
At a news conference Friday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the creation of a new online registry for COVID-19 survivors to share their stories and connect with researchers.
“Each of the recovered coronavirus patients in Maryland has a story to tell and a role to play in our efforts to save lives and slow the spread of the coronavirus,” Hogan said.
The new site, called COVIDConnect, will serve as a “community platform” for people who have recovered from the coronavirus to share their experiences and lend support to others who are coping with the recovery process.
Their input can also help spur further research into treatments for the virus. A study being carried out by Johns Hopkins University is looking at “groundbreaking research” that is studying the therapeutic uses of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, Hogan said.
As of Friday, nearly 400 Marylanders were listed by the state health department as having recovered from the coronavirus. Dr. Fran Phillips, the state’s deputy health secretary, said she has spoken with many of them. “What’s been so striking is their interest in giving back and sharing their experience” and making themselves available for research studies, she said.
The state has also invested $2.5 million in a joint partnership with the University of Maryland School of Medicine to launch a large-scale testing initiative that will enable the school’s lab to run up to 20,000 coronavirus tests per day, Hogan said.
Hogan also said the Maryland Department of Transportation is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up a new decontamination site at BWI International Airport that can disinfect scarce medical equipment and allow it to be reused. The newly developed technology, developed by Ohio-based company Battelle, allows 80,000 N95 masks to be disinfected a day.
New task force to stop spread of COVID-19 in Va. nursing homes
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Friday announced the creation of a new task force dedicated to stopping the spread of COVID-19 in the commonwealth’s nursing homes.
Laurie Forlano, the deputy commissioner for public health, will lead the task force, Northam said, and he outlined its four jobs:
- Working with Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne to make sure nursing homes have what they need;
- Strengthening the staffing and control measures, such as testing, personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies;
- Making sure public and facilities get the data they need about where and how badly the virus is happening in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
The formation of the task force comes at a time when such facilities are a focus of the pandemic. Forlano said 45 of the 82 total outbreaks in Virginia are centered in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. There have been 525 cases and 32 deaths among residents and staff of Virginia nursing homes. The death toll at the Canterbury Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, in Henrico County, has reached 39.
Forlano noted that older people are at particular risk for the coronavirus, and that nursing homes present certain structural challenges: “Social distancing is pretty difficult to achieve” in nursing homes, she said, and staff often work in more than one location.
Forlano said nursing-home workers were working under “incredibly challenging circumstances.”
The pandemic continues to take a toll on the commonwealth’s unemployment picture. Last week, Northam said, 147,369 Virginians filed claims for unemployment insurance, bringing the total to 306,143 in the past three weeks.
Next week, Virginia will launch the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, which was created by the CARES Act, passed by Congress last month. The program allows for an additional $600 a week on top of regular unemployment benefits and allows gig workers, temp workers and self-employed people to receive assistance — about 75,000 people who didn’t previously qualify for benefits, Northam said.
“We know that people are dependent on this financial support, and we are committed to making sure that every claim is processed.”
Northam was asked about reports from other states of FEMA seizing shipments of equipment that the governors have ordered and adding it to the national stockpile. He said that after having spoken with officials at vendors and hospitals, “to date, we haven’t had” any equipment seized by FEMA.
Northam: Social distancing is working; don’t stop now
Northam said the stay-at-home orders that have become a part of life in the region are proving effective, and need to be kept up. “We’ve all seen reports that say social distancing seems to be working,” he said. “I hope this is the case. But social distancing will not continue to work if we stop doing it.”
Saying that people had asked him whether it was time to lift restrictions on gatherings and leaving the house, Northam said, “This is no time to let our guard down. We need to stay home and stay safe.”
Asked to contrast his demeanor with Trump’s agitation for the national economy to “open up” and restrictions to end, Northam said, “Once you take someone’s hope away, you’ve taken away their will to live. So I’m a big believer in hope, but I’m also a big believer in telling people the truth.”
He added, “I’m a doctor. … I’m looking at the data,” such as patients in nursing homes, intensive-care patients and people on ventilators. “There is nobody out there that wants us to get back to our life as normal more than me. But we also have to deal with reality.”
‘Most devastating economic catastrophe of our lifetimes’
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot shared initial projections on Maryland’s fiscal health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic during a news conference Friday, calling the coronavirus the “worst public health crisis and most devastating economic catastrophe of our lifetimes.”
The number of Marylanders filing for unemployment increased an astronomical 5,200% in a month, Franchot said, and that doesn’t include people whose hours have been reduced or those who can’t navigate an “overwhelmed system,” Franchot said.
Andy Schaufele, director of the state’s Bureau of Revenue Estimates, said Friday that balancing the budget will require “options that have never been discussed before.”
Assuming Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s stay-at-home order stays in effect through June 30, Schaufele’s analysis predicts a $2.8 billion loss to states revenues.
Hogan orders budget freeze, cuts
Faced with the “worst-case scenario” projections of the projected revenue loss in the state, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Friday he is instituting a budget freeze on all spending across state agencies and a hiring freeze that will go into effect immediately.
Speaking at a news conference, Hogan said all state agencies will have to make budget cuts. The state Department of Budget and Administration will also make recommendations for cuts to so-called mandated spending, Hogan said.
There are hundreds of bills recently passed by the Maryland’s General Assembly now sitting on Hogan’s desk, but he said is “very unlikely that any bills that require increased spending will be signed into law.”
Responding to the public health crisis will likely exhaust the state’s entire rainy day fund and “will likely create a multiyear budget issue, which will require further substantial budget reduction actions, Hogan said.
DC holds moment of prayer and silence; flags at half-staff
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser led the District in a moment of prayer and silence Friday at 11 a.m. “to honor those who have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic and those on the front lines fighting this virus.”
The ceremony Friday at Gonzaga High School featured remarks from faith leaders, the playing of “Taps,” and “Amazing Grace.”
Bowser also ordered all D.C. flags in the District to fly at half-staff through Sunday.
“Every morning, you know we report lives lost in the District. And all of these losses represent people in our community who were loved and who will be missed dearly,” Bowser said.
Uncertain if DC food markets will return by this weekend
Officials now say farmers markets and other food markets around the D.C. reopen by this weekend, after large crowds at the popular fish market in Southwest D.C. last weekend led to a crackdown.
Under a mayor’s order issued earlier this week, food markets are no longer considered essential and operators must submit detailed plans for limiting crowds and practicing social distance in order to be granted waivers to reopen.
Speaking Friday, interim Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio said several markets have already applied for the waivers.
The Arcadia market in Deanwood has already been OK’d to reopen Friday.
Other markets, such as the farmers markets in Dupont Circle and Columbia Heights, “are a little bit more complicated in the layout or the number of vendors they have or people they expect.”
The planning office is working through the day to approve waivers for markets that are supposed to operate this weekend. But, he said, “We’re going to take the time we need to make sure that they can operate safely.”
Falcicchio said his office remains in talks with the operators of the fish market in Southwest and no decisions have been made.
D.C. police will patrol the larger farmers markets and could coordinate with the D.C. National Guard if they need additional support, Falcicchio said.
Rise in domestic violence calls in Montgomery Co; crimes, arrests down in DC
Montgomery County police Chief Marcus Jones said the department is seeing an uptick in domestic violence calls and school break-ins and burglaries during the stay-at-home order in Maryland.
“We really would like to see our domestic disturbances and violence calls go down,” Jones said.
Montgomery County police urged people worried about the situation in their home to seek help from the Family Justice Center — the county’s crisis center hotline at 240-777-4000. And if you need immediate help, call 911.
In D.C., police Chief Peter Newsham said his department has not seen any dramatic increases in the numbers of calls for police or arrests.
“I don’t know if that necessarily paints the true picture because sometimes people who are being abused, and they’re in the environment with their abuser, don’t have an opportunity to report,” Newsham said.
D.C. has seen crime across the city drop in recent days, as more people are staying home, Newsham said. Except for homicides.
“The one crime that doesn’t seem to be slowing down significantly is our homicides,” Newsham said. “We have a number of homicides in recent days. But in every other crime category, we’re starting to see drops.”
Overall, Newsham said his department is arresting fewer people as part of a “purposeful and thoughtful” strategy to reduce the number of people being brought into the criminal justice system.
Meanwhile, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is preparing for what some models show will be the peak of the outbreak in the county.
Fire and Rescue Service Chief Scott Goldstein said the same projections show that late next week could be the height of the pandemic in Montgomery County,
In preparation, there will be more units out on the street beginning next week, which include five strike teams. These strike teams will treat patients who are showing symptoms of COVID-19 and have prior medical conditions, but do not need to be seen in the emergency room, Goldstein said.
Other actions Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is taking include adding 10 transport units and 10 advanced life-support chase SUVs that can get to people to assess them before an ambulance arrives, as well as decontamination units at several hospitals, spokesman Pete Piringer said.
In D.C, seven more first responders have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total to 56, according to fire chief Gregory Dean. Of them, 11 members have since recovered and returned to duty.
Cases top 13,000; 330 deaths recorded
Overall, the number of known coronavirus cases rose across D.C., Maryland and Virginia, according to new data released Friday, hitting more than 13,000 cases. That’s more than double the number of cases at this time last week.
Maryland continued to record the highest increase in new cases — 783 cases — and the highest overall number of cumulative cases, just shy of 7,000 as of Friday.
Virginia recorded 467 new infections, and a total of 4,509.
D.C. recorded 137 new cases, and a total of 1,660.
For the second day in a row, the region recorded more than 50 deaths in a 24-hour period. All told, 330 COVID-19 patients in D.C., Maryland and Virginia have died.
The number of deaths is more than three times higher than what it was this time last week, when there where 103 deaths.
D.C. reports 426 patients have recovered from COVID-19. Maryland says 397 of its patients have recovered.
Read more: What does it mean to recover from coronavirus
As jurisdictions released more demographic data on coronavirus deaths, they show clear racial disparities.
In D.C., 25 of the 38 COVID-19 patients who have died — or 65% — were African American.
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A drive-thru testing center set up by Arlington County and the Virginia Hospital Center has tested more than 1,000 people since opening last month.
Along with social distancing and frequent hand washing, “Testing for COVID-19 is an important tool to slow the spread of the virus in our community, in our region, and our nation,” Dr. Reuben Varghese, health director and public health division chief for Arlington County, said in a statement.
When it first opened on March 18, patients had to be an Arlington County resident or employees. As testing capacity doubled, patients no longer have to be residents or employees of the county, but they still need a doctor’s order for testing and must schedule an appointment in advance.
WTOP’s Abigail Constantino, Mike Murillo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
