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Dear Neighbor, As you may have heard, Governor Northam signed an Executive Order today allowing Northern Virginia to delay the beginning of our reopening process in order to allow our region more time to meet crucial health metrics. While the rest of the Commonwealth will enter Phase One of the Governor's plan to ease current restrictions on Friday, we will remain in Phase Zero until May 28th. Included in the delayed implementation are Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington, and Loudoun counties; the cities of Fairfax, Falls Church, Alexandria, Manassas, and Manassas Park; and the towns of Dumfries, Herndon, Vienna, and Leesburg. You can read the Governor's announcement here, and the full Executive Order here. Fore more information on Phase One of the Governor's "Forward Virginia" guidelines, click here. Northern Virginia has been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus. The positivity rate in our area is twice that of the rest of the Commonwealth, and we report 70 percent of Virginia's positive cases on any given day. I know how difficult the past few months have been. But we are in a critical phase of this crisis, and we risk the prospect of much needless suffering if we let our guard down prematurely. Other communities have met their metrics and can now prepare for Phase One. Northern Virginia simply isn't there yet, and it would be irresponsible to pretend otherwise. So I thank the Governor for his flexibility in recognizing that our area is still not ready to reopen. While we have seen improvement in testing capacity, we still have a ways to go until we can fully understand, trace, and treat the effects of coronavirus in our region. You can help in that effort by staying home, continuing to practice social distancing, and by avoiding travel to other regions of the Commonwealth. We will get through this together. Please continue to take care of yourselves and each other, and remember that my office is here to help. Be sure to visit the COVID-19 page on my website for more information and resources. If you have any questions or concerns, or if you need assistance, please don't hesitate to call us at (703) 256-3071. Sincerely,
Member of Congress |
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