ACCOMACK COUNTY, Va. — The Accomack County Board of Supervisors said it's not ready for the first step towards reopening the county which, like all of Virginia, has been affected by coronavirus closures.
Board members voted 5-4 Wednesday night to ask Gov. Ralph Northam to allow them to delay Phase One reopening which was set to begin for most of the state at 12 a.m. on May 15.
The governor granted the extension request and will allow Accomack County to implement the first phase of the reopening plan starting at midnight on May 28.
“As I have said previously, Virginia’s Phase One guidelines represent a floor, not a ceiling,” said Governor Northam. “I have encouraged local leaders to request exemptions when appropriate, and I am pleased to grant the delays for both Accomack County and the City of Richmond.”
Because Northern Virginia had not met certain medical benchmarks that health officials use to gauge if coronavirus restrictions may be eased, the governor issued another executive order that allowed cities and counties in Northern Virginia to delay Phase One until May 29.
In a letter dated May 14, the Accomack County Board of Supervisors explained to Northam that it requested similar consideration given to Northern Virginia because of concerns about the "high number of positive COVID-19 cases in Accomack County and the significant number and size of outbreaks that have occurred within its borders."
As of May 14, the Virginia Department of Health's website showed there had been 593 cases of COVID-19 in the county. That's an increase of about 8% when you look at the number reported on May 13.
VDH said eight people in Accomack had died because of the disease.
When you look at the numbers for Northampton County, which sits to the south of Accomack County on the Eastern Shore, there had been 184 cases, but 12 deaths.
“The Virginia Department of Health has very good dashboards out there and it’s basically three – one for hospitalizations, one for cases and one for deaths. Every one of those categories when you look at rates for 100,000 we are at the top tier for all three," said Accomack County Administrator Mike Mason. "No matter how you count these cases in Accomack we have extremely high numbers compared to the rest of the state, so we believe that a delay is needed.”
Board members expressed concern that the number of cases in Accomack continued to grow at an "alarming rate." The board said that county health officials pointed out because of a recent increase in testing that had taken place, the number of positive cases could shoot up by more than 50% in a matter of days.
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The Accomack County Board of Supervisors requested that the governor allow the county the same two-week delay he gave Northern Virginia. Board members said they believe that will give them time to determine if they need to do more before entering into Phase One.
“The more time we have to keep people safe at home and the more time they are following phase zero recommendations the better we believe controlled the spread of the virus will be," Mason said.