Here are some of the most significant recent developments as the region responds to the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19:
• Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is altering his stay-at-home order, saying elective medical procedures will be allowed to resume Thursday. He also broadened the list of safe outdoor activities to include golf, tennis, boating, fishing and the opening of state beaches for exercise, but cautioned that social-distancing measures are still needed.
• District officials released a map Wednesday showing a breakdown of coronavirus cases by neighborhood for the first time. Earlier maps showed the number of cases broken down by ward. The map shows that among the top spots for positive tests are Columbia Heights (298 cases), 16th Street Heights (273 cases) and Chinatown (249 cases).
• The District has lost $1.7 billion in travel spending and is bracing to lose $163 million from the cancellation of 22 conferences at the convention center, officials said Wednesday. Elliot Ferguson, head of the city tourism arm Destination D.C., said officials are already thinking about how to bring tourists back — starting with those within driving distance.
• Two days after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said he expects to ease some restrictions on nonessential businesses by mid-May, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said Wednesday that D.C. residents are still under a stay-at-home order and she had no updates on when she would lift restrictions set to expire May 15.
When might local restrictions ease? | What a stay-at-home order means for you | Known coronavirus cases in the region | How to get tested | Have you tested positive for coronavirus? Share your experience.
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Chairs of Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William counties want more communication with Northam
The chairs of the Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William county boards of supervisors sent Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) a letter Wednesday saying they wanted better communication with him and briefings prior to the governor’s future announcements related to reopening the state.
Northam said earlier Wednesday he would allow Northern Virginia to keep strict coronavirus restrictions in place as he eases standards statewide, but the letter seemed to indicate the governor had not consulted with Northern Virginia leaders before his announcement.
The letter was signed by Jeff McKay (D-At Large), the chair in Fairfax; Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large), the chair in Loudoun; and Ann B. Wheeler (D-At Large), the chair in Prince William. The three counties, with a population of 2 million, make up about a quarter of Virginia’s population but about 40 percent of all known positive cases and hospitalizations related to the coronavirus. McKay warned Fairfax residents in an email Monday, “We are in the exponential growth period of our epidemic curve and will see more cases and deaths in the coming weeks.”
The chairs’ letter to Northam stated: “We write to you today to communicate our strong desire to be both briefed and consulted as your administration makes decisions about the reopening of the Commonwealth. As you know, our communities are unique, and our needs remain great. Overcoming this pandemic will require even closer communication and a clear understanding of what our localities face currently and in the future; we can bring that perspective. We request a discussion with you prior to future announcements about the state’s reopening.”
The chairs also requested “a weekly phone call between a member of your team and our chiefs of staff. This too will help with the flow of information and help better open lines of communication. In addition to the reopening, some of the topics our respective teams would like to cover include testing capacity, the acquisition of personal protective equipment, racial disparities, and the methodology used for the distribution of CARES Act funds.”
Maryland schools will be among the last things to reopen
After announcing that Maryland’s schools would remain closed for the rest of this academic year, state schools Superintendent Karen B. Salmon said Wednesday the state now has a detailed plan about ways to reopen schools even before a vaccine allows for pre-pandemic normalcy.
Among other options, Salmon said students could alternate days or weeks in the classroom, with distance learning in place when students were at home. But she said return of students to in-person classroom instruction would be among the last things to occur, possibly in the last reopening phase — the one Gov. Larry Hogan (R) designated for large-scale gatherings such as sporting events and concerts.
While the state will decide when to open schools, specific decisions about how to reopen them will be made by local school systems.
Montgomery County school officials praised the state’s decision to keep schools in Maryland shuttered through the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Maryland had been one of three states that had not definitively closed schools for the year, until Wednesday.
“We strongly believe this is the right decision for the safety and well-being of Maryland students and their families,” Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Jack R. Smith said in a message to parents, students and staff.
Smith said that while the news was not unexpected, he understood that many students and families who were looking forward to end-of-year events would be disappointed. The school system — Maryland’s largest, with more than 166,000 students — will provide more details during the coming week about graduation, prom, promotion ceremonies and the next phase of online learning, he said. A work group has been looking into alternative ways of recognizing students and celebrating amid the health crisis.
“We’ll just forge ahead and do something that is meaningful that celebrates students’ accomplishments and think about what we can do in the future, if possible, in the months ahead if things shift,” Smith said in an interview.
Smith said it would have been helpful to know earlier that schools would be closed through the end of the school year.
“I don’t know if it would have changed anything but I always think it’s good to relieve people’s anxiety, and ambiguity is one of the biggest challenges right now that we all have — just the unknown constantly about what’s going to happen, and how it’s going to happen,” he said.
Md. golf course owners were so frustrated, one considered openly defying Hogan’s ban
Before Gov. Larry Hogan (R) relaxed his stay-at-home order Wednesday afternoon, Maryland had been one of three states to keep golf courses closed. Many Maryland golf courses had been frustrated watching their usual customers drive to play at open courses in bordering states.
Robert Sturges, owner of Worthington Manor in Urbana, sent an email about 90 minutes before the governor’s announcement Wednesday to a database of customers vowing to openly defy Hogan’s order and open the course Thursday.
In an interview Wednesday evening, Sturges said he “had some information” that Hogan’s decision to open was coming, but didn’t know if Hogan would open courses immediately or on the weekend.
Sturges estimated that Worthington Manor lost at least $250,000 in revenue while closed for more than 40 days. He expressed confidence the course will rebound based on golfers’ excitement to get back outside and a lack of other entertainment options.
“When we made the announcement, I think we filled up our tee sheet in an hour’s time,” Sturges said.
Sturges’s frustration piqued as surrounding states opened their golf courses.
“We knew golfers were hopping in their cars,” Sturges said. “We heard from members, they told us they were driving to Virginia. Then once Pennsylvania opened, there were that many more people driving north. Our whole point was, it doesn’t make sense when you’ve got thousands of people driving out of state to go play.”
Even if they weren’t ready to defy Hogan’s order, other course operators agreed with Sturges’s point.
“It’s more frustrating because my customers in Maryland — and everybody else’s customers in Maryland — are packing themselves in the Virginia courses that are left open,” Ted Goodenow, the general manager of Whiskey Creek in Ijamsville, said just before Hogan’s announcement. "[Open courses in Virginia are] going crazy. Their tee sheets are packed. You’re doing the opposite of trying to protect people. You’re seeing them go over there and playing golf courses that are over capacity. So yeah, it’s very frustrating.”
Goodenow said reopening Whiskey Creek would enable 20 to 30 staffers, from the kitchen to the course, to come back to work. Maintenance workers have been keeping the course ready. Asked when he could reopen the course, Goodenow replied quickly.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “Immediately.”
Hogan: New doses of antiviral remdesivir headed to hard-hit Prince George’s and Montgomery counties
Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday that drugmaker Gilead Sciences has donated 1,600 doses of the antiviral remdesivir, the only drug with federal approval to treat severe cases of covid-19, to Maryland.
The governor said he plans to send all of the doses to hard-hit Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, home to the state’s highest volume of cases.
Hogan (R) also announced new steps to attack a growing covid-19 outbreak among poultry workers on the Eastern Shore, where rural Wicomico County has the third-highest per capita case count in the state. Every employee will be tested in shifts as they start working.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracing the contacts of sick workers to contain the spread. The state has set up a tent at a hospital in Easton to prepare for an onslaught of patients.
Justice Department investigates Blue Flame Medical after claims it failed to provide masks to Maryland
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Blue Flame Medical, a firm created by two well-connected Republican operatives who started selling covid-19 supplies this spring as the virus spread across the country.
Prosecutors are focused on at least two contracts that the firm signed for medical masks and other equipment with Maryland and California, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter. Both states ultimately canceled those contracts.
An attorney for Blue Flame, Ethan Bearman, has said the firm acted in good faith with the states. He declined to comment about the Justice Department investigation.
Last weekend, Maryland terminated a $12.5 million contract for personal protective equipment (PPE) with the firm after state officials said the company had failed to deliver masks and ventilators as promised.
Michael Ricci, a spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) confirmed Wednesday in an email that the state government has received subpoenas from federal prosecutors seeking information about the canceled Blue Flame contract. Asked what law enforcement officials are seeking, Ricci replied, “Federal investigators have asked us not to disclose that information.”
Northam wants feds to keep paying full cost of National Guard in Va.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is asking Washington to keep picking up the cost of the National Guard’s coronavirus work in Virginia.
Northam (D) highlighted the work of the state’s guardsmen at a Wednesday news briefing, noting that they have been involved in delivering and administering coronavirus tests, fitting N95 masks and distributing food at shelters. A group of guardsmen will conduct drive-through testing on the Eastern Shore on Friday and Saturday, when they hope to test up to 1,000 people a day.
The federal government has been picking up the full cost of the Guard’s coronavirus response since April 7, when President Trump authorized the funding under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.
Northam said he is asking Trump to extend that authorization, which is effective no longer than 31 days.
“This is the greatest emergency we have seen in many years,” Northam said.
Northern Va. could be allowed to keep stricter standards as rest of state moves toward easing restrictions
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday that some of the state’s harder-hit localities could keep stricter covid-19 restrictions in place even if he begins easing statewide standards at the end of next week.
Northam (D) announced Monday he would extend business and social restrictions that had been due to expire May 8 for another week, then move into “Phase One” of reopening the state’s economy if coronavirus hospitalizations, deaths and other data continue moving in the right direction.
But Northam said Wednesday that covid-19 “hot zones” could opt against easing “if they felt the need to intensify those restrictions.”
“This is a floor,” he said of the statewide rules. “If local governments … think they need to maintain additional [protections], we will allow that.”
The governor mentioned densely populated Northern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, which is struggling with outbreaks at poultry processing plants, as areas that might not want to ease restrictions.
Asked if the state or localities would have final say over local restrictions, Northam said, “I will have the final say.” But he said he would be working closely with localities and will have a teleconference Thursday with leaders in Northern Virginia to see “where they are, what their comfort level is.”
Northam said that in a conference call Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) understood his plan to start reopening Virginia on May 15. Northam stressed that his plans could change if the covid-19 data starts trending in a negative direction.
“We have a great relationship with our neighboring leaders,” Northam said. “We all have different situations. We all have unique challenges.”
Northam noted that the District and Maryland are “very dense,” which is true for Northern Virginia but not for many other parts of the commonwealth.
“We talk about working together, but … Virginia is so diverse,” he said. “They understand that. We’ll continue to communicate probably once or twice a week to be as consistent as we can.”
Speaking at a news briefing, Northam noted that Thursday will mark two months since the state diagnosed its first covid-19 case. From inside the briefing room, Northam could hear horns being honked by “Reopen Virginia” demonstrators, who circled Capitol Square in their cars. They have been doing that weekly to protest Northam’s business and social restrictions and showed up again Wednesday, undeterred by his Monday announcement that he intends to start easing restrictions May 15.
Asked if he had a message for the demonstrators, Northam spoke instead of the National Guard troops, nurses, teachers and others who “are stepping up every day to be part of the solution to get this health crisis behind us.” He also praised his staff, saying they have worked nonstop and without complaint since the start of the crisis.
Gov. Hogan and Rep. Harris square off over stay-at-home orders, again
The administration of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and Rep. Andy Harris, the only Republican representing the state in Congress, clashed again Wednesday over when it’s safe to lift stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Harris, in a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, suggested that a nationwide education program on how to prevent the spread of the virus would be more effective in some areas, including his largely rural district, than relying on infection rates and contact tracing.
The witness, Tom Frieden, president and chief executive of the New York-based nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives, said, “You will be safer if you’re able to open with contact tracing in place,” he said. Harris shot back: “We’re safer if we’re not born. We’re safer from death if we’re not born. The bottom line is there’s some element of risk.”
The comment quickly elicited a response from Mike Ricci, Hogan’s spokesman and previously a longtime staffer to former House speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). “Note: The case rate in Wicomico County, in Dr. Harris’s district, is the third highest in Maryland — ahead of Baltimore City,” Ricci tweeted.
He was referring to the per capita rate of infection in a county on the Eastern Shore in Harris’s district, which is home to the headquarters of Perdue Farms, where a covid-19 outbreak has pushed the countywide infection rate to 517, compared with 2,752 in Baltimore City, according to state figures.
Over the weekend, Harris rallied protesters calling for the state to reopen and compared restrictions instituted by the Hogan administration to moves by the autocratic regimes of China and North Korea. He later said he was exaggerating, the same way he said Hogan has exaggerated at times.
Ricci sounded off on Harris, wondering in part if “perhaps Dr. Harris has been in Congress too long, and has forgotten what truly matters.”
In the hearing, the five-term congressman, who is also an obstetric anesthesiologist, questioned the effectiveness of stay-at-home orders in rural areas where people can often conduct business without contact with others.
“Why do we have a one-size-fits all approach when we can be much more nuanced about it?” he said.
Harris says Maryland churches, golf courses and recreational boating should be allowed to reopen.
Shortly after the clash, Hogan announced some restrictions would be eased, allowing golf courses to open, along with state parks and beaches for boating, camping and fishing.
Hogan begins easing Md. stay-at-home orders, but state cancels school for rest of academic year
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the first easing of his weeks-long stay-at-home order Wednesday, granting a reprieve for outdoor activities such as golf and for doctors to schedule some elective surgeries that had been forbidden.
The inching toward reopening came as state schools Superintendent Karen B. Salmon announced that Maryland schools would remained shuttered through the end of the academic year. Until Wednesday, Maryland was one of just three states that had held open the possibility of resuming in-person instruction.
“There are some additional things we can do safely, right now, prior to the lifting of the stay-at-home order,” Hogan (R) said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference where he announced state parks and beaches will reopen as of 7 a.m. Thursday for boating, camping, fishing and tennis. “I know how anxious people are to get outside, both for their physical and mental well-being,” he said.
Hogan said the state’s relatively flat hospitalization rate and progress in fortifying its public health system made it feasible to begin considering an end to the most drastic social distancing measures next week. Hogan said his panel of doctors and scientists supported the narrow relaxation he announced Wednesday.
The changes Hogan outlined fall short of fully implementing the first phase of his reopening plan. Small shops must remain closed, and most nonessential businesses are still barred from providing curbside service. All gatherings of more than 10 people are still prohibited.
The governor has said he’s eager to begin the economic recovery once it safe to do so, and he pinned his decision on evidence that the state is prepared to handle a potential second wave of cases. He said Wednesday that Maryland has added sufficient hospital capacity, ramped up testing, gathered significant amounts of personal protective equipment for medical workers and made progress on hiring an army of contact tracers to eventually identify and possibly isolate new cases.
But Hogan said that the state has not reached all his goals on that front, and that it would be premature to further relax social distancing measures designed to curb the spread of the virus.
The governor has come under increasing pressure from members of his own party to reignite commerce and reverse widespread economic pain the social distancing rules created. More than 380,000 people in Maryland have filed for unemployment since mid-March. Maryland Labor Secretary Tiffany Robinson said Wednesday the state was sending out $170 million in benefits to residents every week. Before the pandemic hit, the state sent out roughly $7 million per week, she said.
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), the state’s tax collector, estimated this week that 30 to 35 percent of the state’s small businesses will be unable to reopen and may be gone for good. At the same time, Maryland’s virus caseload and death counts continue to rise, with hot spots flaring up in nursing homes statewide and among poultry workers on the Eastern Shore.
Too few employees, tests and masks: How covid-19 spread through Maryland nursing homes
Caitlin Evans can pinpoint the first day she and other nurses believe they exposed residents of Sagepoint Senior Living center to the novel coronavirus.
The 26-year-old nurse spent half an hour on March 27 preparing a man with a bad cough to go to a hospital for a medical procedure.
Neither she nor other nurses who helped him to the ambulance wore masks or other protective gear. Despite their pleas, they said, managers told them that such protections were unnecessary.
Former and current employees at Sagepoint and six other nursing homes in Maryland say the virus spread rapidly as their facilities struggled with shortages of staff, testing and personal protective equipment. At several nursing homes, employees said, managers played down the severity of outbreaks and did not provide masks and gowns until patients had tested positive.
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) last week ordered universal testing for nursing home residents and employees in Maryland and signed a contract for 260 medical professionals to assist with staffing. But nursing home employees said the help has been slow to materialize, and the staffing won’t cover yawning gaps at the state’s 226 facilities.
As of Wednesday, according to state data, the 165-bed facility in La Plata, Md., had recorded 35 fatalities attributed to covid-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Among the dead: the man with the cough.
D.C. plans on luring back tourists after losing $1.7 billion in travel spending
The District has lost $1.7 billion in travel spending and is bracing to lose $163 million from the cancellation of 22 conferences at the convention center, officials said Wednesday.
Elliott Ferguson, head of the city’s tourism arm, Destination D.C., said officials are already thinking about how to bring tourists back — starting with those within a driving distance.
“Overall, the domestic market is going to rebound first, and we are going to continue to focus on those efforts,” Ferguson said during a Wednesday news conference. “Clearly as we look at our future, the international market is extremely important.”
The coronavirus has decimated tourism and events businesses across the globe, with large gatherings and travel carrying the risk of contracting the highly contagious coronavirus.
City tourism officials acknowledged that it would not be easy to bring travelers back to visit the monuments, museums and local restaurants and entertainment venues. They cautioned that any messaging and marketing campaigns would also be shaped by the advice from public health experts.
“We are not just going to return to normal operations,” said Gregory O’Dell, president of Events D.C., which operates the convention center and other entertainment venues. “We may never see normal operations again, and it really forces us to think about our businesses differently.”
O’Dell said the city booked a Lions Club International conference for 2027 that would bring 25,000 attendees with an economic impact of nearly $15 million.
“This is a sign from our perspective that there is a rebound,” said O’Dell.
The District’s preparations for reactivating tourism comes as the Washington region starts to plan for recovery and restoring revenue that keeps government services afloat.
The conference came after the governor of Virginia and the mayor of the popular Maryland destination Ocean City announced plans to start reopening.
Asked about these developments, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said D.C. residents are still under a stay-at-home order, and she had no updates on when she would lift restrictions set to expire May 15.
“I’m the mayor of Washington, D.C., and I’m going to do what’s best for our jurisdiction,” Bowser said. “What we see in all of the jurisdictions — D.C., Maryland and Virginia — are growing case counts and continued community transmission, so we know opening up and people mixing in various ways are going to lead to increased infection.”
Her chief of staff, John Falcicchio, said restrictions in the Washington region may stay consistent if Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) preserves social distancing measures in Northern Virginia while allowing parts of the state hit less hard to open up.
“They may have an approach that lets certain regions or counties still operate under the restrictions that we have today,” said Falcicchio. “We may see in the national capital region complete alignment in the restrictions that remain.”
D.C. map shows breakdown of coronavirus cases by neighborhood
District officials on Wednesday released a map showing a breakdown of confirmed coronavirus cases by neighborhood for the first time. Earlier maps showed the number of cases broken down by ward.
The map shows that among the top spots for positive tests are Columbia Heights (298 cases), 16th Street Heights (273 cases), Chinatown (249 cases), Brightwood (242 cases) and Logan Circle/Shaw (189 cases). Among the areas with the fewest number of cases are Chevy Chase (32 cases), Barnaby Woods (30 cases), and Georgetown (12 cases).
When broken down by ward, Ward 8 has the highest number of deaths, although the neighborhood map shows few hotspots in the area.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said at a Wednesday news conference that city officials are looking at commercial activity, types of jobs and housing types as reasons for hotspots.
Number of virus deaths ticks upward in Washington region
Maryland reported 47 new covid-19 fatalities Wednesday, while the District reported 14.
Maryland’s death toll now stands at 1,437. Virginia hasn’t released numbers yet on Wednesday because of a technical problem.
Montgomery and Prince George’s counties account for 29 of the new fatalities. The state also added more than 1,000 coronavirus cases overnight, bringing its total of confirmed infections to 28,163.
The District also removed a previously reported covid-19 fatality after determining that the disease was not the cause of death, bringing its death toll to 277. The city also added 139 known infections, bringing the total to 5,461.
The increases in both the District and Maryland have been on par with daily rises in recent days.
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U.S. Capitol Police: 14 officers have tested positive for coronavirus
U.S. Capitol Police officials said 14 of the agency’s officers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since late March.
In an email, spokeswoman Eva Malecki said that of those, nine “have fully recovered and have returned to work, or have been cleared to return to work.” She did not detail the conditions of the others.
The U.S. Capitol Police department is in charge of protecting Congress and visitors who come to the Capitol grounds. The agency has about 2,100 officers and civilians. It responds to issues including political protests, potential terrorism incidents and suspicious packages.
Many police and fire departments around the D.C. region have had personnel test positive for the virus.
At one point, about 430 members of the District’s police and fire departments were under quarantine.
Despite pushback, Sidwell and other D.C.-area prep schools are keeping their small-business loans
Sidwell Friends School, the elite Washington private school, has been under attack over its decision to keep $5 million in federal bailout money, a move its critics say undermines the program’s ability to help small businesses and low-wage workers survive the pandemic.
Sidwell’s response: It needs the money to pay its workers.
And it isn’t the only prep school saying so. Private school officials across the region said this week they applied for, and weighed the ethics of taking, money from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, which has allocated $600 billion to businesses to prevent them from laying off employees.
Some applied and then declined the money. Sidwell, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Landon School and others accepted the federal aid, officials said, because they’re losing out on crucial revenue and can’t tap their endowments.
“We recognize that our decision to accept this loan may draw criticism from some quarters of the community,” Sidwell’s board wrote in a statement, “but are fully united in our decision.”
Anticipating the backlash, board members at Sidwell, which has a $52 million endowment and counts presidents’ children among its alumni, announced last week that it intends to keep the money.
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D.C. caps meal delivery commissions, requires landlords to accept rent payment plans
The D.C. Council on Tuesday passed emergency covid-19 legislation that would require landlords to accept rent payment plans and delay foreclosure actions. But lawmakers dropped provisions that would force insurers to pay business interruption claims.
The latest relief bill includes measures to assist residents struggling to pay the bills and restaurants struggling to survive.
The council capped commission fees that food delivery services charge restaurants at 15 percent of the meal cost.
As in much of the country, D.C. restaurants cannot serve customers on premises and are limited to offering delivery and carryout. The commission cap, similar to ones implemented in Seattle and San Francisco, is meant to help eateries turn profits on those sales.
“What we are finding is the third-party delivery services are charging commissions that wipe out any profit that the restaurant would receive from that order,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said Monday.
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Howard University launches free coronavirus testing to reach residents in some of D.C.’s poorest neighborhoods
In a waiting room overlooking a road that cuts through some of the D.C. neighborhoods hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, a grandmother sat in a chair six feet from her granddaughter as they waited for their names to be called.
Sharron Carroll, 57, bounced her leg nervously as she thought about the test that lay ahead. She has seen the pictures — a long swab stuck up patients’ noses, one nostril at a time.
“I don’t even want to think about it,” she said with a shudder. “I might leave.”
But she had come to see whether she or her 14-year-old granddaughter, Omariah, had the virus that had killed more than 2,360 people in the District, Virginia and Maryland.
So, she stayed.
Carroll was one of the first patients to receive a novel coronavirus test Tuesday at Howard University’s community health center in Ward 7, established last year to address health disparities east of the Anacostia River and provide residents with services such as prenatal care, mental health care and addiction treatment.
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