RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — At Thursday’s briefing, Gov. Northam urged Virginians to take down Confederate monuments “the right way,” announced reopening plans for Virginia’s colleges and shared his thoughts on defunding the police.
Highlights from the press conference:
On Portsmouth Confederate incident, other statues recently toppled
Gov. Northam started by discussing recent moves by protesters to topple and deface Confederate and other racist monuments throughout the state, including in Portsmouth on Wednesday night, which led to one man suffering a severe head injury after being struck by a falling statue. He’s asking protesters to leave the removal of statues to local governments for safety reasons.
Related: Portsmouth Confederate monument broken apart hours after city moves forward in relocation process
“I know these statues are causing a lot of pain but pulling them down is not worth risking someone’s life … let’s do this the right way and keep all Virginians safe.”
Protesters, lack of spike in cases and stagnant testing numbers
Northam said he’s encouraging all protesters to wear facemasks and get tested for COVID-19. “This virus is still with us,” he said.
He pointed to how Virginia hasn’t seen a spike in daily cases in the last two weeks, though testing numbers have remained mostly stagnant in that span, and have actually dropped significantly in the last few days along with low case numbers.
The state is still only averaging about 8,000 tests per day, about the same as two weeks ago. Meanwhile neighboring North Carolina, which has seen daily cases increases by about 200 per day since two weeks ago, is now testing about 5,000 more people per day compared to two weeks ago, up to about 16,000 per day.
Reopening plans for colleges and other higher-ed
Northam says all public and private college campuses can begin to offer in-person classes and reopen campuses, but they must follow health department guidelines and develop plans that address the safety of their students, faculty and staff.
Campuses will have to meet certain conditions, including making sure local hospital surge capacity is available and adhere “to sound public health principles,” including disinfecting measures and other mitigation strategies.
Changes will include:
- More courses online or in hybrid-setting
- Smaller classes
- Staggered scheduling
- Spread out dorms
- Non-traditional food services
- Large scale events such as athletics will be a “new experience”
Schools have until July 6 to submit their plans to the State Council of Higher Education.
The guidance on reopening colleges was created by Office of the Secretary of Education, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and the Virginia Department of Health.
The governor’s office in a news release said its reopening guidance is “among the first in the nation.”
Read the guidance document here.
The plans for higher education and colleges differ from K-12 schools, which will open in phases.
Read more about the plan for K-12 reopening here.
On calls to “defund the police”
When asked about his stance on “defunding the police,” Northam said “I certainly don’t support that. Our police officers provide a much needed resources to our communities.” He did say there is room to reform the way police money is spent in the department, but not reallocating that money to other services such as mental health care, etc.
“When we talk about defunding, how do we best prioritize the funding we already have. That’s the way police departments want to approach it as we discuss reform.”
Northam, who called for more body cameras for police in Virginia at last week’s moment, said that some police departments can’t afford them.
Economic numbers for April and May
While state general fund revenues declined 20.6 percent in May compared to the previous year, the numbers were slightly better than expected.
The governor’s office says this is because the individual tax due date was pushed back to June 1 and the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on payroll withholding and retail sales.
Ordinarily, May is a big month for collecting state revenue.
Watch the full governor’s press conference below: