Black Md. residents disproportionately hurt by virus; more than 270,000 filed for unemployment in D.C. area last week

The District’s tourism arm announced Thursday that it will distribute $15 million to help hospitality and service workers, restaurateurs and undocumented immigrants who were left out of a relief package the D.C. Council approved earlier this week.

Events DC, which oversees the District’s convention center, tourism marketing and sports, said the money will be available before the end of April to expedite the recovery process for District residents unable to work amid a shutdown meant to slow the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.

The $15 million package will be split into several parts: $5 million for restaurant recovery efforts; $5 million to help hotels and those who work in them; and $5 million for undocumented immigrants who may be ineligible for unemployment benefits and other forms of government assistance.

A Virginia judge ruled Thursday that Gov. Ralph Northam’s executive orders banning gatherings of more than 10 people can be fairly applied to religious gatherings, meaning Easter services this weekend are likely to be shuttered.

Larry Hughes, a former coal miner and college professor in his 60s, sued Northam (D) in Russell County Circuit Court on Monday seeking a temporary restraining order against the executive orders Northam issued last month, saying it had “a chilling effect on [Hughes’s] right to religious freedom.”

Hughes, who is Christian, said the order forced him “to choose between fidelity to his religious belief and punishment, and thereby bringing unlawful coercion to bear on his choice.”

The governor, defended by the office of Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D), responded that the executive orders do not require places of worship to close or prevent public access. But they do prohibit more than 10 people from being inside a place of worship at any time. “The Governor’s chosen strategy for slowing the spread of covid-19 and saving lives warrants deference,” the attorney general argued in his brief.

Russell County Circuit Court Judge Michael Moore ruled in favor of the governor Thursday. “The equities do not weigh in [the petitioner’s] favor based on this pandemic,” the judge said, according to the attorney general’s office. “And to say that this injunction to be granted would be in the public interest is not defensible. So the court is going to deny the request for temporary injunction.”

Herring issued a statement saying: “I’m really pleased we were able to successfully defend Governor Northam’s Executive Orders. Science tells us that social distancing is the most important thing we can do to save lives and prevent the spread of covid-19, and that’s exactly what these orders are doing.”

Terrence Shea Cook, Hughes’s attorney, said he would continue to seek a permanent injunction against the governor’s orders, saying they violate the U.S. Constitution and Virginia Constitution’s protections for the free exercise of religion.

“This case has never been about whether churches should have specific numerical limitations,” Cook said. “The issue is who makes that decision. My position is the church makes the decision, not the governor. Mr. Hughes and I realize the impact of covid-19. But when you start taking the clearly constitutional freedoms away from the church, it really represents a policy determination over a fundamental right.”

D.C. police is limiting public visits to its headquarters building at 300 Indiana Avenue NW as the city deals with the spread of the coronavirus. Employees and members of the public with confirmed appointments will be allowed inside, the department said Thursday.

“It is necessary that MPD maintains a healthy workforce so we may continue to provide police services across the District,” the agency said in a statement. Appointments for the public can be made weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For appointments for traffic and crime reports, criminal history reports, firearms registration and fingerprints, call 202-671-6705. Police ask people not to schedule appointments or arrive at the building if they are exhibiting flu-like symptoms or feel ill. Everyone who enters is subject to a temperature check.

A group of state senators is calling on Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to give Maryland residents a break on car insurance premiums during the coronavirus pandemic that has upended the economy.

Sixteen senators signed onto a letter by Sen. Jill P. Carter (D-Baltimore City) asking Hogan to issue an executive order to give Maryland drivers a rebate on car insurance premiums, a reduction in monthly premiums and a ban on cancellations for nonpayment. Hogan has issued executive orders to ban evictions and vehicle repossessions, and to prohibit the initiation of a foreclosure process.

“We applaud your efforts to address income insecurity with mortgage loan forbearance and eviction prohibition,” the letter reads. “Beyond housing matters, people are being forced to take stock of all of their bills to decide what must be paid immediately and what can wait.”

Carter noted that some insurance companies have already decided to take the action, but the lawmakers are urging the governor to formalize it. Last week, 107,408 unemployment claims were filed in Maryland, according to the Labor Department. In the past month, 241,014 unemployment claims have been filed, more than all the claims that were filed last year.

Six more residents of a Richmond-area rehab facility have died of covid-19, bringing the death toll there to 39. In all, 148 residents and staff have tested positive for the virus at Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, the location of Virginia’s largest known outbreak of the coronavirus.

The Henrico County facility, which announced the latest deaths Thursday, serves patients recovering from illness or injury, many of them elderly. The 190-bed rehab center tested all of its residents and staff last week, regardless of whether they showed signs of illness. Some test results for staff members remain outstanding. Thirty-five residents have tested negative.

A 69-year-old patient at the District’s public psychiatric hospital died of coronavirus complications Thursday, officials said, days after advocates sought a court order to secure the release of some patients from the facility because of covid-19 concerns.

In a court filing Thursday, health officials announced the death of Kenneth Ellison, who was admitted to the hospital in 1975 after being found not guilty by reason of insanity on rape and burglary charges. Ellison died at St. Elizabeths Hospital on Thursday after being found unresponsive around 6:50 a.m., said a letter signed by a clinical administrator at the hospital on Department of Behavioral Health letterhead.

Ellison had been admitted to George Washington University Hospital on April 2 and tested positive for coronavirus, according to the letter. He was discharged to St. Elizabeths on April 3.

Department of Behavioral Health officials and Ellison’s guardian were not immediately available for comment.

Ellison’s death follows a number of confirmed coronavirus cases among staff and patients at St. Elizabeths. As of Wednesday, 29 employees have tested positive and 73 were under quarantine, while 14 patients had tested positive and 142 were in isolation, according to city statistics.

“The virus is already spreading quickly through the hospital,” Andrea Procaccino, a staff attorney at Disability Rights DC, which advocates for patients at St. Elizabeths, said in an email Thursday. Procaccino said she had been told that patients and staff do not have access to or do not consistently use personal protective equipment, such as N95 masks, and that the situation is “chaotic and deteriorating.”

“DBH must take more action immediately to stem the spread and prevent unnecessary illness and death,” she said.

The first member of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department has tested positive for covid-19, the department announced Thursday. The individual has experienced mild symptoms and is recovering, the department said. The person’s duty assignment was not released.

Fire officials believe the person was not exposed to the novel coronavirus on the job and said that no one else at the person’s station or shift had reported any similar illnesses. The person began feeling sick on March 18, was tested for covid-19 on March 26, and the positive test was returned this week, the Fairfax department said. Officials said 17 other Fairfax fire department members were under quarantine due to unrelated exposures.

Fairfax Fire Chief John S. Butler has ordered all of his fire and rescue personnel to don complete personal protective equipment in response to any covid-19 related call, and is limiting the number of first responders who actually come in contact with patients during the pandemic.

Fairfax health officials reported 690 confirmed covid-19 cases and 16 deaths in the county as of Thursday.

The ACLU of Virginia and more than 40 other groups called Thursday for the swift release of any nonviolent inmates in the state’s prisons and jails and greater transparency from officials as the coronavirus spreads among incarcerated populations.

The groups called for conditional pardons for anyone one year or less away from release, a moratorium on new admissions to jails and prisons except for violent offenders and more detailed information about covid-19 cases behind bars. The groups want correctional centers to publicly release the number of covid-19 cases at their facilities, the number of inmates tested and what measures were being taken to stop the spread of the virus.

Virginia lacks a coordinated response to the pandemic in prisons and jails from the top, the groups said. “The actions so far from the governor and his administration do not go nearly far enough in addressing this pandemic within Virginia prisons, jails and custodial facilities,” Ashna Khanna, legislative director of the ACLU of Virginia said at a news conference.

To date, 42 inmates and staff have tested positive for the coronavirus at Virginia prisons, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections. Five inmates have been hospitalized.

The call for action came one day after a group of inmates sued Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and other state officials in federal court, arguing their potential exposure to covid-19 in correctional facilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit claims inmates are unable to maintain social distance, prison staff are not using protective gear and inmates have been forced to manufacture face masks without the benefit of using them.

State facilities have barred visitors to inmates, increased cleanings and distributed personal protective gear to inmates and guards in some instances to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Northam said Monday he has no plans to take executive action on the issue.

“We have protocol that we work through with parole, and my folks are working around the clock,” Northam said at a news conference. “A number of individuals have been released, and we will continue to work around the clock. But we have to follow our protocol and as far as an executive order, I don’t plan on releasing an executive order.”

Separately, Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano announced Thursday he would begin reviewing the cases of every single inmate incarcerated at the county jail — more than 600 — to see if each would qualify for early release.

His office had previously recommended the release of three dozen nonviolent offenders. He said his office would also review all pretrial release decisions made before the coronavirus outbreak to see if additional inmates might be released. Fairfax County’s Public Defender has criticized Descano for being too slow to release nonviolent offenders amid a pandemic.