VA Governor Opposes Closing Restaurants To Contain Coronavirus

VIRGINIA — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday he is adopting the federal government's guideline of limiting gatherings to 10 people in a confined space in response to the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. But the governor did not order restaurants and bars in the state to close as some local officials in Northern Virginia requested Monday. Northam said too many Virginia residents rely on restaurants for their meals to justify ordering they shut down.

At Tuesday's press briefing in Richmond, Northam also said the state is urging people 65 or older to self quarantine to protect them from the coronavirus. The number of coronavirus cases increased to 67 in Virginia as of Tuesday, up from 51 cases on Monday, the governor said.

Unlike leaders in neighboring states, Northam said he prefers not to mandate that businesses take measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. "I'm much more about carrots than I am about sticks," Northam said about his decision not to order the closure of businesses like restaurants, bars, fitness centers and movie theaters. "The reason is I'm here is to ask Virginians to be part of the solution and hopefully we won't get to the point where we have to do a lot of enforcement."

Northam said his administration is asking restaurants and bars to follow the rule of no more than 10 people. "Obviously, a lot of resturants will have more than 10 people in them. That's just the way they operate. If that's the case, we're not mandating that they close, but we're encouraging that they use takeout ordering so that people won't be inside the confined space."

Over the duration of the coronavirus crisis, Northam said he does not envision his administration ordering restaurants and bars to shut down in the state to contain the spread. The governor said more than 45 percent of residents get their meals in restaurants.

"I think we've got to be very prudent," he said. "Again, we want to keep Virginia healthy, but we also know they need to eat, they need to have adequate nutrition. So we're going to stick by our policy that I just outlined."

In the last few days, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser have ordered restaurants and bars to close their doors in response to the new coronavirus. Because Northam has not issued a similar order in Virginia, Arlington Board Chair Libby Garvey and County Manager March Schwartz sent out a letter Monday asking restaurants and bars in the county to close their dine-in services by 10 p.m.

According to the Virginia Department of Health, Arlington has the most confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the state, with 13 cases reported Tuesday.

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"We have seen some restaurants get very creative with how to do carryout with social distancing," the letter said. "Encouraging carryout service is a good way to help these small businesses and their staffs make it through this challenging time."

In the letter, Garvey and Schwartz pleaded with the owners of these businesses to voluntarily close to keep patrons and servers safe. "Otherwise, we will likely be overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases and the health of everyone in Arlington will be in jeopardy," they said.

Garvey took to social media after Tuesday night's deadline to post a link on her Twitter account showing that she had signed a petition requesting Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam order all restaurants and non-essential gathering places closed due to the coronavirus.

Dr. Norm Oliver, Virginia's state health commissioner, said at the news conference that the state is still waiting for results from 48 coronavirus tests and that he expects the current count of 67 confirmed cases will increase over the next day.

Oliver also said the Virginia Department of Health was made aware of a positive coronavirus case in a long-term care facility. He did not say where the long-term care facility is located. "This is very concerning," he said. "This is our first case in a skilled nursing facility. And we are actively investigating this case, working in collaboration with this long-term care facility to isolate and make sure that the infection does not spread to others."

VA Coronavirus Cases By County/City

Arlington County - 13

James City County - 12

Fairfax County - 12

Loudoun County - 5

Virginia Beach - 4

Prince William County - 4

Chesterfield County - 4

Alexandria - 2

Henrico - 2

Spotsylvania County - 1

Stafford County - 1

York County - 1

Williamsburg - 1

Prince Edward County - 1

Charlottesville - 1

Hanover County - 1

Goochland - 1

Harrisonburg - 1

Total - 67

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