Governor Update for June 18, 2020

Phase III Guidelines Released for June 26th, at the Earliest 

          In today's update from the Governor, he came from Northern Virginia, which is a change of scenery from the Patrick Henry building in downtown Richmond. As Northern said at Tuesday's conference, he was expected to cover what Phase III looks like. 

          When Governor Northam approached the podium, he first recognized some election officials and leaders in the Latino community. Then, he reminded Virginians that we are not entering Phase III this week before announcing what the phase would look like and a few other reminders. 

The following is what Phase III will look like: (slides can be found here) 

• You're still Safer at home; 
• Strongly encourage teleworking;
• People still need to focus on physical distancing in all situations outside of their home; 
• Face Coverings are still the right thing to do in indoor public spaces. 

Changes include: 

• Social Gatherings may include up to 250 people; 
• The cap on the capacity for non-essential retail will be lifted; 
• The capacity for restaurants and beverage services will also be lifted but physical distancing is still required; 
• Entertainment venues like museums, zoos, and other venues may open at 50% capacity with a cap of 1,000 people; 
• Gyms and Fitness centers may be open up to 75% of capacity; 
• Personal Grooming services such as hair salons will still need to follow physical distancing;
• Childcare facilities may be open; 
• Overnight summer camps will still be closed; 
• Recreational sports will still require physical distancing; 
• Swimming pools may be open at 75% capacity with physical distancing; 
• and Face Coverings are still required in indoor public spaces. 

Governor Northam reminders to Virginians: 

• If something is allowed, it doesn't mean that it is required. 
• Just because there are more places to go, you don't have to go there. 
• We still need to consider where we need to go versus where we want to go. 
• We still need to be careful when we're out in the public. 
• We all still need to use the same common sense as what we've been doing in the pandemic. 
• Wash hands frequently. 

Once all of the Phase III announcements wrapped up, Northam covered the impacts the pandemic had on the Latino community, which brought him to why he was in the Northern VA area for this press conference. Because this portion of the conference was hard to follow since most of it was in Spanish this portion starts at the following mark in the video down below: 15:24 

After all of the speakers, which was also hard to keep track of, since for most they started without stating their name clearly or in Spanish, Governor Northam asked for any questions. In the questioning period, a reporter asked "why come to Northern VA?". Northam said it was to show Virginia's strength of diversity. In another question, another reporter asked about the best guess for Phase III. Governor Northam said that the earliest Phase III would happen would be on June 26th. The third question that took place that seemed important was an update on the Injunction. Governor Northam responded with "as soon as we can, the Lee statue will be removed." To see the questioning part of the conference, it can be found at the following mark: 49:51

Finally, he ended the conference with the following quote: "we all will get through this together". The next COVID update will be on Tuesday, June 23rd at 2pm.