Governor Ralph Northam this week said he has directed the Virginia Department of Health to begin conducting surprise inspections of bars and restaurants to ensure state COVID guidelines are being followed. The governor said business licenses will be at risk if distance and masking guidelines are being ignored.
“We’re seeing some troubling numbers,” Northam said. “We all hoped this virus would go away, but that’s clearly not the case, and until we have a vaccination, it will impact everything that we plan – weddings, school openings, the November election – we are in this for the long haul. So, we all need to be clear-eyed about what our health situation is and how we keep our numbers low and our people healthy.”
Case numbers in Virginia are increasing statewide. The percent of individuals testing positive is rising as the number of tests goes up. “The percent positivity is inching up recently from 5.9 percent to 6.8,” Northam said.
Southwest Virgina is seeing a small uptick in cases, with positivity remaining under 5 percent.
Virginia is now testing around 10,000 individuals a day. The highest growth demographic is adults age 20-29, where the numbers are up 250 percent in the last few weeks.
