During his news conference Thursday, Governor Ralph Northam asked protesters to let local governments remove monuments scattered across the state so no one is hurt in the process.In making that request, the governor mentioned a man who was seriously injured after a Confederate statue fell on his head during protests in Portsmouth Wednesday night.
Northam reiterated that he believes Confederate monuments are racist, but it's best to let local officials and governments work to remove them. He also urged protesters to wear masks and get tested for COVID-19.
Speaking of the virus, Northam indicated that the state's trends are continuing to move in the right direction. That includes the number of deaths from the virus. The governor said he and his administration will continue to monitor trends over the weekend and could possibly have an announcement about Phase Three of his reopening plan sometime next week.
Northam says colleges and universities are working on reopening, and in that process must submit their proposals to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, or SCHEV. Higher education institutions, public and private, will be held to similar standards as the state's K-12 schools. Northam indicated that colleges and universities will have some flexibility in their plans, but those strategies will need to be grounded in best public health practices.
Many Virginia colleges and universities have already announced reopening plans, but SCHEV Director Peter Blake didn't anticipate any issues with compliance with state guidance. He said that the council will provide more information to schools on the plan submission process Friday.
When it comes to the state's finances, Northam said Thursday that Virginia is actually doing better than what was originally projected at the onset of the virus. He said the state's revenues was down about 20% last month compared to May 2019. Virginia Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne said officials anticpated Virginia would take a billion dollar hit to its revenues because of COVID-19, but again, the Commonwealth is doing better than anticipated. He attributed that to help from the federal government and a strong Virginia economy heading into the pandemic.
