Positive Coronavirus Cases Near 300 In Virginia; 1 New Death

VIRGINIA — Virginia health officials reported 290 confirmed positive cases of the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, Tuesday, an increase of 36 cases in the state from the day before. One new death was reported in Virginia Beach.

Officials with the Virginia Beach Health Department said that a seventh person in the state has died of the coronavirus and warned that the fatality could be part of a community spread of the virus in the city. A man in his 70s with underlying health conditions died of acute respiratory failure, the city’s health department said in a news release. The death is the first reported in Virginia Beach.

The Virginia Beach Health Department has begun investigating who the patient had been in contact with in the weeks leading up to his hospitalization and death.

Five of the seven deaths have been reported in the Peninsula Health District, which includes James City County. One death has been reported in Fairfax County.

As of Tuesday, Fairfax County has the most confirmed cases of the coronavirus at 46, followed by James City County with 37, Arlington County with 36 and Prince William County with 23.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay is calling for federally supported testing sites for the coronavirus in the D.C. region. McKay, the board chair of Virginia's most populous jurisdiction, wrote a letter to President Trump on Monday that contained the request for federal help.

He joined state leaders in pushing for the D.C. region to become a priority location for federally supported testing sites along with Boston, New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Santa Clara, California.

The concern of testing capacity has affected Fairfax County as well as the U.S. as a whole. According to the Fairfax County Health Department's COVID-19 testing information page, the U.S. faces a limited supply of materials needed for specimen collection before those samples are sent to a laboratory for testing.

In addition, there are shortages of personal protective equipment for healthcare providers to wear while testing patients. A lack of protective gear could lead to a health care provider opting not to test due to the health risk. Public health officials anticipate the testing capacity outlook to improve as commercial laboratories provide more testing supplies and more laboratories test.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Monday ordered K-12 schools, both public and private, to remain closed for the rest of the academic year in an attempt to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. Northam also issued an executive order Monday that ban restaurants from allowing customers to eat in. Restaurants are allowed only to do carryout and delivery service under the executive order.

The order also declared the following recreation and entertainment businesses as nonessential and ordered them to close to the public beginning at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday:

• Theaters, performing arts centers, concert venues, museums, and other indoor entertainment centers; fitness centers, gymnasiums, recreation centers, indoor sports facilities, indoor exercise facilities.
• Beauty salons, barber shops, spas, massage parlors, tanning salons, tattoo shops, and any other location where personal care or personal grooming services are performed that would not allow compliance with social distancing guidelines to remain six feet apart.
• Racetracks and historic horse racing facilities.
• Bowling alleys, skating rinks, arcades, amusement parks, trampoline parks, fairs, arts and craft facilities, aquariums, zoos, escape rooms, indoor shooting ranges, public and private social clubs, and all other places of indoor public amusement.

Most people with the coronavirus develop fever, cough and shortness of breath. Healthcare professionals evaluating ill patients for suspected coronavirus can request testing through a private laboratory. Virginia Department of Health approval is not required for this testing, the health department said.