Health and Medicine
Effective Thursday, Valley Metro will limit the number of passengers aboard any bus to nine. Once a bus reaches that capacity, it will not allow new passengers inside until the on-board count falls below nine. The transit company plans to run additional buses, when possible, to meet customer demand.
NEWS RELEASE: Effective Thursday, April 9, Valley Metro will limit the number of passengers on buses to a maximum of nine passengers at any one time. This is an additional precaution in order to further encourage social distancing while using transit, and to follow Department of Rail and Public Transportation recommended guidelines. Once a bus reaches capacity, the operator will not be able to board additional passengers until the onboard passenger count is below nine passengers; the operator will then allow boarding up to the nine-passenger limit. Additional buses will be in service, as available, to assist with capacity. To facilitate the availability of having additional buses available, peak-hour service will be suspended. Fixed route buses will operate on an hourly schedule during the service day and the Starline Trolley will operate on a 15-minute schedule during the service day. Smartway will operate on the normal schedule. All Valley Metro passengers are encouraged to plan ahead, as the bus may reach capacity before arriving at your stop. Individuals are asked to only take essential trips on Valley Metro during this COVID-19 Pandemic.
If you have questions, please contact Kevin Price, General Manager of Valley Metro, at 982-2222.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a bus arrives at a stop with nine passengers already on board. Will that bus be able to pick up any additional passengers? No. The plan is to reallocate the operators and buses from the peak service to assist in any overloads as a result of the nine-passenger limit. Buses used to handle any passenger overloads will operate, to the extent possible, behind the scheduled route bus.
Will all scheduled buses have an extra bus to handle overloads? No. Using available resources, an additional bus will be assigned to routes with historically higher ridership. There will be the ability, to the extent possible, to dispatch a bus to the location where pick-up was not possible in a reasonable amount of time.
Will ADA passengers using a mobility device be denied service if the passenger count is at nine passengers? No. The ADA sections on the buses will not be affected. ADA boardings will be as normal.
As the coronavirus continues to spread, Governor Northam has been stressing the need for more PPE’s. One local medical school has created a task force to help alleviate some of that need. WFIR intern reporter Rachel Meell has the story:
See swva.covidresponse on Instagram, swva-covidresponse on Venmo or e-mail swva.covidresponse@gmail.com to make a monetary donation, or inquire about donating PPE’s.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam plans to delay some long-sought Democratic priorities until more is known about how the pandemic will affect the economy, pushing back decisions on whether to give teachers and state workers raises, freeze in-state college tuition, and implement other new spending in the budget lawmakers passed only last month.
Clark Mercer, the governor’s chief of staff, said Tuesday that too little is known about the impact on state revenues to move ahead now with billions of dollars in new spending, much of which would carry over into future years.
He said the governor, a Democrat, is likely to request a budget reforecast this summer before calling lawmakers back for a special session this year to adjust spending priorities based on the new numbers.
The pandemic is pounding state governments nationwide with a one-two punch, costing them millions in containment efforts just as businesses shut down and tax revenue collapses. The federal stimulus package should soften the blows with $150 billion in direct aid to states, but the long-term impact remains unclear.
Northam, who ordered many businesses closed to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, instituted a hiring freeze of state employees and directed agency heads to look for ways to cut spending.
Virginia’s coronavirus caseload jumped by 450 cases in one day to more than 3,300 people, with at least 63 dead, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health announced on Tuesday. Both figures are likely undercounts due to the lack of widespread testing, and the likelihood that many people without symptoms could be spreading the highly contagious virus.
Only a month has passed since the Virginia General Assembly, led by Democrats for the first time in more than two decades and buoyed by a stronger-than-expected economy and record-low unemployment, passed a $135 billion, two-year state budget plan with heavy new spending on public education, social services and other areas.
The pandemic has cast in doubt many of their long-sought priorities, such as raises for teachers and state employees, a tuition freeze at public universities, new money to provide dental coverage for adults on Medicaid, and extra money for early education and vocational training.
Other closely-watched measures include labor and employment bills that advocates said would help low-income workers but the business community warned would hurt the state’s economy. Lawmakers approved hiking the minimum wage and, in a historic shift, passed a bill to allow limited public sector collective bargaining, which had previously been banned.
Business interests have continued to lobby the governor, urging him to delay the bills’ implementation.
“The negative impact these bills will have on our members’ livelihood is even more critical considering the economic devastation many of our members are facing,” a broad coalition of business groups wrote in a letter to Northam.
Unions and others workers’ advocates say the economic fallout makes signing the new legislation even more critical.
Durann Thompson, a third grade teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools, called the opposition to the collective bargaining bill “profoundly insulting.”
Thompson said teachers have risen to the challenge of educating students online after Northam closed schools for the rest of the academic year, even while many are caring for their own children at home.
“This pandemic is being used by anti-worker forces as an excuse to continue to deny teachers the opportunity to sit at the table and be heard,” she said in a conference call organized by a coalition of unions.
The Northam administration hasn’t said yet what it will do, but has indicated a willingness to delay some of the measures.
“We are sensitive to when they go into effect,” Mercer said.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Eight more residents of a Virginia long-term care facility who tested positive for coronavirus have died, bringing the death toll amid the outbreak to 28, the facility’s administrator said Monday.
Deaths at the Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Henrico County have continued to mount since health officials tested every resident last week due to the scope of the outbreak. That testing showed roughly two thirds of the residents had the virus.
“Our hearts go out to the families of those who have passed, and we deeply feel the loss within our community,” administrator Jeremiah Davis said in a statement Monday.
Thirty-four residents were experiencing symptoms ranging from moderate to mild, and 54 of the residents who tested positive were showing no sign of being ill, the statement said.
Across Virginia, the Virginia Department of Health reported nearly 2,900 confirmed cases and 54 deaths Monday, figures that state health commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver said at a news conference were “almost definitely an underestimate” to due a lack of widespread testing. The health department’s totals are also reported with a lag time that means they likely would not include all of the Canterbury deaths.
The announcement came the same day the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association reported that 11 hospitals would be experiencing difficulty in obtaining or replenishing PPE within the next three days.
Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran described the $27 million purchase as “substantial” but said Virginia’s need still “clearly” surpasses it.
The number of COVID-19 cases among inmates and Department of Corrections workers also continued to rise. Nineteen offenders, eight employees and one contractor have tested positive, the department reported Monday.
Governor Northam says Virginia has ordered a major shipment of much-needed personal protective equipment – PPE’s – but it is not scheduled to arrive from Asia for another week. In the meantime, he urges all Virginians to wear masks when heading out, even if they have to make the coverings themselves. But this call also comes with a word of caution, as WFIR’s Evan Jones reports:
Roanoke-area radio and television stations are joining forces with regional health care systems tonight in a first-of-its-kind live broadcast to answer your questions about COVID-19. Participating stations have submitted viewer and listener questions for consideration. Physicians from Carilion, Lewis Gale, and the Salem VA Medical Center will take part, as will Molly O’Dell the region’s Director of Communicable Disease Control. One question she has already addressed: how to handle food and grocery bags once you bring them home. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Virginia has jumped by another 240 or so in the last 24 hours, but the number of deaths attributed to it has been increasing at a slower rate. The Virginia Department of Health now reports close to 2,900 cases statewide. Fatalities are listed as 54; over the weekend, the number was put at 51.
There are a few new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in the Roanoke region. The state health department now shows 15 in Botetourt County, 11 in Roanoke City, 10 in Franklin County, 7 in Montgomery County, 5 in Bedford and Roanoke Counties, and one in Salem.
Roanoke-region health care systems and broadcasters are joining forces later today in an unprecedented effort to answer your COVID-19 questions and concerns — especially those that specifically apply to our region. You can watch it on any of the Roanoke-Lynchburg television stations or hear it on WFIR. Evan Jones has a preview:
The program begins at 7:00 pm tonight.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Three more residents diagnosed with COVID-19 have died at a Virginia long-term care facility, the center disclosed on Sunday, bringing the death toll from one of the nation’s worst coronavirus clusters to 20.
The administrator of Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in suburban Richmond have announced three additional deaths since Friday.
More than 90 Canterbury residents have tested positive and are receiving treatment at the hospital or at the center, according to administrator Jeremiah Davis. Another 35 residents have tested negative, while 25 health care workers at the center also have tested positive.
Data from the Virginia Department of Health showed more than 2,600 positive COVID-19 cases statewide and at least 51 deaths as of Sunday morning. There are well over 400 hospitalizations.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, and the vast majority survive. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause pneumonia or death.
Government offices in Montgomery County are now closed for two weeks to both workers and citizens because two employees have tested positive for COVID-19.
The decision to shut down the entire Montgomery County government center in Christiansburg came shortly after Friday’s announcement that the entire 68-person Department of Social Services was under quarantine for a week because a worker had tested positive, The Roanoke Times reported. News of a second government worker testing positive came late Friday, county spokeswoman Jennifer Harris said Saturday.
Montgomery County Public Safety and other government functions located outside of the government center will continue to operate, Harris said. Water and sewer services, trash pickup and some animal will continue. But others inside the center — the local voter registrar, treasurer and commissioner of the revenue among them — will be shut down.