Some VA Coronavirus Restrictions To Ease On March 1: Gov. Northam

VIRGINIA — Gov. Ralph Northam plans to ease some coronavirus restrictions in Virginia starting Monday, March 1, as cases trend down and vaccination numbers continue to go up.

The changes will apply to outdoor entertainment venue capacity, outdoor recreational sports capacity, social gatherings, alcohol sales and overnight summer camps. There are no changes announced for the face mask requirement, indoor social gathering limit, physical distancing requirements and business capacity restrictions.

Northam will allow the modified stay-at-home order with a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. to expire on Feb. 28. The deadline for alcohol sales and consumption at dining establishments will be extended from 10 p.m. All restaurants, dining establishments, food courts, breweries, microbreweries, distilleries, wineries, and tasting rooms must remain closed from midnight to 5 a.m.

The 10-person gathering limit for indoors will remain, but outdoor gatherings will be allowed up to 25 people. Outdoor entertainment venues will be capped at 30 percent capacity, or up to 1,000 people. There is no change for indoor entertainment venues, capped at 30 percent capacity, or up to 250 people. There is no change for large amusement venues, capped at 50 percent capacity outdoors only.

Outdoor recreational sports will be allowed to operate with 30 percent capacity, or 250 spectators per field. There is no change for spectators indoors — 30 percent capacity or 25 spectators per field. Overnight summer camps will be allowed to open on May 1 with mitigation measures.

The new guidelines will be in effect for at least one month, and the governor could further ease restrictions if health metrics continue to improve. Northam noted he didn't want to ease restrictions to quickly as vaccinations continue and with new variants present in Virginia.

"As key health metrics show encouraging trends and we continue to ramp up our vaccination efforts, we can begin to gradually resume certain recreational activities and further reopen sectors of our economy," said Northam in a statement. "Even as we take steps to safely ease public health guidelines, we must all remain vigilant so we can maintain our progress — the more we stay home, mask up, and practice social distancing, the more lives we will save from this dangerous virus."

Vaccination update

Northam said 1.7 million Virginians are now registered for the vaccine after last week's launch of a statewide registration form and hotline. Almost 500,000 Virginians preregistered since the launch, and the remaining 1.2 million previously signed up through local health departments and are being transferred to the statewide system. Residents who are registered in the statewide system will still be given instructions for appointments by their local health department. To preregister for the vaccine or check if you're registered, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov or call 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-829-4682). Residents in the Fairfax Health District should continue to use the local health department's registration form.

Last week, the Biden administration announced an increase in vaccine allocations to states. That has brought Virginia's latest weekly allocation from 130,000 doses to about 161,000 doses. Winter weather had delayed the weekly shipment last week, but that shipment and the current week's shipment are arriving.

Northam expects vaccine supply is expected to increase more soon. On Wednesday, an FDA review confirmed the Johnson & Johnson vaccine candidate is safe. With emergency use approval on the horizon, Northam believes shipments of the new vaccine could go to states as soon as next week.

"Starting next week...we'll have three vaccines in Virginia that are safe and effective: Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer," said Northam. "All of these vaccines are shown to reduce serious illness and death from the virus."

The governor also announced new pharmacy partners will be administering vaccines in Virginia through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Partnership. The federal government is allocating 52,000 weekly doses to participating pharmacies in Virginia — 26,000 to CVS and 26,000 to other pharmacies. These locations will initially limit appointments to individuals 65 and older.

CVS started providing vaccine appointments earlier in February, and Walgreens will start offering appointments later this week, according to the governor. Other pharmacies joining the federal program are Walmart, Kroger, Safeway, Food City, Food Lion, Giant Food, and a network of community pharmacies.

"Locations are decided by the companies in consultation with the Virginia Department of Health to focus these efforts on high-risk and vulnerable communities," said Northam.

The governor noted that Walmart will be providing vaccines at off-site community locations, not stores. Walmart will have the ability to vaccine a few hundred people per day and choose different locations for mass vaccination sites each week.

Northam said some pharmacies can work with the statewide online registration system, but others do not. Virginia's vaccine call center will be making calls to schedule appointments for Walmart and Giant for people on the state's wait list. This effort to schedule appointments for other pharmacies will expand next week and beyond, according to Northam.

"These partnerships are expanding very quickly, and the majority of pharmacies in this federal partnership will work with our system, and that's a good thing," said Northam. "We're doing everything we can to ensure that Virginians who signed up with the VDH list are in line for pharmacy appointments."

Virginia is also preparing for future mass vaccination sites with $179 million in funding from FEMA. Northam said the sites are not opening now, but they will be ready when supply ramps up enough to open these sites.

As of Wednesday, VDH reported 1,667,353 vaccine doses have been administered. There are 1,150,698 people with at least one dose, or 13.5 percent of the population. A total of 516,655 are fully vaccinated, or 6 percent of the population.

Before winter storms delayed vaccine clinics and shipments, Virginia was averaging 36,000 doses administered per day, according to Northam. The latest average is 31,923 per day.

COVID-19 data update

The seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases is 1,908, which the governor says is the lowest average since before Thanksgiving. There were 1,907 new cases reported on Wednesday, including 465 in Northern Virginia, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Current hospitalizations have been trending down since mid-January and stand at 1,562. That's comparable to the level last seen in late November. The total includes 318 people in the intensive care units and 185 on ventilators. Northern Virginia has 276 current patients, including 30 on ventilators and 50 in the ICU.

According to Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association data, ICU occupancy among all hospital patients is at 77 percent, and ventilator use was at 31 percent.

VDH has reported record highs of new deaths in recent days as it continues to process 2021 death certificates related to a post-holiday case surge. VDH notes that deaths by date reported do not reflect the dates of deaths. On Wednesday, 149 new deaths were reported. These dates don't reflect the date of death; VDH also keeps data on deaths by the date on death certificates.

Virginia's seven-day average of positive tests stands at 8 percent as of Feb. 21. The average has been trending down since reaching a winter peak of 17.4 percent on Jan. 3. Northern Virginia's average is 7.3 percent, down from a winter peak of 16.6 percent on Jan. 2.

The average number of daily PCR testing encounters is trending down since peaking at 35,027 on Jan. 14. The latest average is 19,814.

Below are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Tuesday to Wednesday:

• Alexandria: 10,229 cases, 506 hospitalizations, 110 deaths; increase of 19 cases, one hospitalization and one death
• Arlington County: 12,974 cases, 762 hospitalizations, 217 deaths; increase of 52 cases and two hospitalizations
• Fairfax County: 65,718 cases, 3,481 hospitalizations, 880 deaths; increase of 249 cases, eight hospitalizations and 10 deaths
• Fairfax City: 482 cases, 36 hospitalizations, 13 deaths; increase of four cases
• Falls Church: 342 cases, 20 hospitalizations, seven deaths; one case removed
• Loudoun County: 22,816 cases, 842 hospitalizations, 207 deaths; increase of 54 cases, seven hospitalizations and two deaths
• Manassas: 3,971 cases, 161 hospitalizations, 36 deaths; increase of one case and one hospitalization
• Manassas Park: 1,116 cases, 66 hospitalizations, eight deaths; one case removed
• Prince William County: 38,920 cases, 1,373 hospitalizations, 368 deaths; increase of 88 cases, three hospitalizations and 10 deaths
• Fredericksburg: 1,747 cases, 93 hospitalizations, 19 deaths; increase of two deaths, one case removed
• Spotsylvania County: 8,190 cases, 280 hospitalizations, 95 deaths; increase of 34 cases, four hospitalizations and two deaths
• Stafford County: 9,418 cases, 309 hospitalizations, 65 deaths; increase of 50 cases and one death