Richmond, Va. - A number of headlines in the state's battle against the coronavirus, one of them being the governor and state health officials are extremely concerned about what they're seeing in James City County.
That became clear during an afternoon news conference in Richmond, as Governor Ralph Northam had a focused message.
"So I urge Virginians, particularly in places with known outbreaks, such as the peninsula to stay home," Governor Northam says.
The governor told reporters, unless it's going to work, the store or some other necessary reason, folks on the peninsula need to be very intentional about practicing social distancing.
"If you're going to a crowded bar or a large church full of people, I would urge you to rethink your plans. Ask yourself is it really important to go out right now?" Governor Northam says during Sunday's press conference.
Dr. Norman Oliver, Head of the State Health Department, is in full agreement.
"I'm very concerned about what's going on in James City County. As local officials have indicated it was likely community spread...and if that's the case there are going to be more cases," Dr. Norman Oliver says.
Dr. Oliver says they do know more about how most of the eight cases in James City County are connected, starting with four of them being linked to the first pair of positive cases.
"So that was six cases all clustered. We had another case and could not find who that person was exposed to." Dr. Oliver says that was the individual who was the state's first fatality and that victim is linked to the eighth case. Dr. Oliver adds, that state has been aggressively trying to track down all of the people who have been exposed to those eight cases in James City County.
Health officials are now aggressively tracking down all of the people exposed to those 8 cases, which currently they believe is 284 people. They have interviewed 200 of them and out of those, Dr. Oliver says none of them is showing any signs of having the virus.
The governor is taking no chances and Northam announced additional safety measures, "Earlier today I announced all local governments on the peninsula will be closed to the public for two weeks."
So how long can you expect these guidelines to be in place? The state's health commissioner says it is way too early to tell, that this is a fluid situation and that you really need to be paying attention to your local health departments for any new updates.
