On Monday, March 23, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced new restrictions on Virginia businesses that will go into effect at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, March 24, 2020.
The Order prohibits all public and private gatherings of ten (10) people or more. It closes all restaurants, food courts, breweries, wineries, distilleries, tasting rooms, and farmers markets through Thursday, April 23, 2020. These places can continue to offer takeout and delivery services.
Recreational and entertainment businesses must also close through Thursday, April 23, 2020. This includes: theaters, concert venues, museums, fitness centers, race tracks, bowling alleys, skating rinks, arcades, aquariums, zoos, etc. It also closes beauty salons, barbershops, spas, massage parlors, and any personal care or grooming business that would not allow social distancing to be followed.
Essential businesses are permitted to remain open for normal business hours. These businesses include: grocery stores, pharmacies, medical supply retailers, electronics retailers, automotive supply retailers and automotive repair businesses, home improvement retailers, lawn and garden retailers, beer, wine and liquor stores, pet stores, office supply stores, and laundromats and dry cleaners. All other brick and mortar retailers, not explicitly ordered to close, and not listed above, may remain open as long as they limit to ten (10) patrons in the store.
Professional businesses may remain open but are directed to employ teleworking as much as possible. The Order does not limit health care or medical services, essential services for low-income residents (i.e. food banks), media operations, law enforcement, or the operation of government.
Lastly, the Governor ordered that all Virginia schools, public and private, would remain closed for the remainder of the 2020 school year. Child care providers may remain open but have been directed to prioritize the children of “essential” business employees.
New Update March 26, 2020 at 2:15PM:
Virginia Orders Restriction on Non-Emergent Medical Procedures
Following up on his earlier Executive Order closing schools for the remainder of the school year and closing many “non-essential” businesses, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam issued Order of Public Health Emergency Two on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. This Order prohibits all inpatient and outpatient hospitals, free-standing endoscopy centers, physicians’ offices, and dental, orthodontic, and endodontic offices in Virginia from providing procedures that require personal protective equipment (PPE), to include gowns, masks, face shields and respirators. This would encompass procedures that, if delayed, would not be anticipated to cause “harm to the patient by negatively affecting patient’s health outcomes, or leading to disability or death.” Procedures can be performed if not doing to the procedure would cause a patient’s condition to worsen. The Order excludes “outpatient visits delivered in hospital-based clinics.”
To this point, organizations like the Virginia Dental Association (VDA) issued strong recommendations against performing non-emergent procedures. This Order now makes it a requirement punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Organizations like the VDA are providing guidance to practitioners in their respective fields as to what types of procedures should and should not be performed under this Order.
Full Text of The Order.
FAQs from Virginia’s Governor’s Office.
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