The Washigtnon Post - 03.04.2020

B2 eZ sU the washington post.friday, april 3 , 2020

Still, much is subject to change. “We’re going to take this one step at a time,” said ronald mason Jr., president of UDC, where 1,800 community college students account for more than 40 percent of the school’s enrollment. “We know our student population and we can maintain healthy practices, especially things like social distancing.” College leaders are also taking steps to h elp students survive t he economic fallout. regular users of Prince George’s Community College’s on-campus emergency food pantry are getting grocery store gift cards. Northern Virgin- ia Community College recently launched an emergency aid fund for students facing furloughs and layoffs. The school is trying to raise $750,000; the college’s fundraising arm has committed $250,000. Students can use the money however they want, including buying groceries or p ur- chasing a laptop for class, Nguy- en said. A similar effort has taken off at montgomery College, where leaders are working to bolster an existing emergency fund to meet increased student demand, Pol- lard said. The school has reallo- cated funds from canceled events, including graduation, to a scholarship and grants account, allowing it to disburse about $137,000 to students in need of laptops, software and food. more than 730 students have requested assistance.

wide gap between those who can access the Internet and those who cannot. That has forced officials to find creative ways to make sure students stay e ngaged — and stay safe. Northern Virginia Commu- nity College left computer labs open at f irst, but officials f ound it hard to regulate the number of students using them, said spokeswoman Hoang Nguyen. So campuses instead expanded Wifi networks to parking lots, allowing students to stay socially distanced while connecting to the Internet on laptops and smartphones. (The stay-at-home orders issued this week in the District, maryland and Virginia make exceptions for people trav- eling to and from school.) montgomery College has responded to technology-access is- sues on its campus by donating hundreds of laptops to students and faculty so they can continue to learn and teach from home. “We occupy a s pecial p lace in this whole situation,” Pollard said. Charlene m. Dukes, president of Prince George’s Community College, said faculty and staff have spent spring break making sure students can access course content on any device, not just laptops. “If students have any kind of electronic device, and a cell- phone particularly, they should be able to connect,” Dukes said. The school has joined others in offering remote academic advis- ing and mental-health services.

“I need the library’s
r esources,” s aid Jordan, a mother
of two. Jordan’s 16-year-old
daughter, Amoni, lives with her
grandmother. “I come here every
day.”
Colleges and universities
across the country have closed
facilities in recent weeks in
hopes of slowing the spread of
the novel coronavirus. But Wash-
ington-area community colleges
are leaving certain spaces open
for students who don’t have
reliable technology access or
Wifi at home, an accommoda-
tion leaders say is necessary to
ensure students earn credits and
graduate on time. They’re also
tending to students’ more basic
needs by donating food and
cutting checks for rent.
Those same college leaders are
looking ahead to future semes-
ters. Uniquely suited to respond
quickly to a changing economic
landscape, community colleges
could serve an important role for
students, families and communi-
ties hit hardest by the coronavi-
rus.
“Students who are the most
vulnerable, right now, are made
even more vulnerable,” said De-
rionne Pollard, president of
montgomery College in rock-
ville.
Like four-year schools, com-
munity colleges have moved
quickly to end face-to-face class-
es and migrate instruction on-
line. But the shift has exposed a

commuity colleges from B1

Keeping (some) lights on for students

nationwide, according to data from the American Association of Community Colleges. By 2017, that number had fallen to about 37 percent. Dukes said enrollment at Prince George’s Community Col- lege went up “somewhere between 10 and 15 percent” after the Great recession. “We were prepared then,” she said. “A nd we would be prepared if something l ike that h appened.” [email protected]

quickly to the demands of the regional job market, and leaders work closely with local business- es to create relevant curriculum. The virus could also have an effect on enrollment at four-year colleges and universities, send- ing more students to community colleges. Between 2007 and 2010, as the American economy collapsed, the share of full-time community college students increased from about 41 percent to 43 percent

These measures are designed to get students through the se- mester. Looking ahead, leaders are b racing for a p otential enrollment surge if the economy — left floored by the coronavirus — continues to deteriorate. Community colleges are “uniquely poised to help fill the workforce pipeline,” s aid martha m. Parham, spokeswoman for the American Association of Community Colleges. The schools are designed to respond

toni l. sandys/the Washington Post uDc student gina neilly, who is studying to be a legal assistant, holes up in the library on tuesday. it remains open for s tudents with limited internet access. “ i feel more secure working here,” she says.

they will need a doctor’s referral. But officials said a hotline will soon open where they can call for an appointment, and no referral will be needed. D.C. firefighters and paramedics have responded to more than 730 emergency calls about sus- pected c ases of t he n ovel c oronavi- rus, the department said Thurs- day. D oug Buchanan, a f ire d epart- ment spokesman, said the vast majority of c allers d id not have the virus. overall, the number of emergency calls has dropped slightly due to the fact that there are tens of thousands fewer workers and visitors in the District amid the shutdown, Buchanan s aid. But the fire department is preparing for spikes in calls, a nd for t he possibil- ity that many firefighters and paramedics could f all ill. So far, 21 members of the fire and Emergency medical Services Department have tested positive for the coronavirus. A total of 183 members are out on quarantine, and another 152 who were side- lined have returned to work. The economic devastation caused by the virus, and the need for extra resources, has prompted small gestures of help from many corners of the region — including the f ederal government. The National Archives said Thursday that it has donated a supply of N95 respirator masks, nitrile gloves, gowns and Tyvek suits that i ts w orkers normally u se when dealing with damaged re- cords. The supplies went to the District’s Emergency manage- ment response Te am, which is working with H HS to distribute the supplies, National Archives officials said. meanwhile, local officials con- tinued to do what they could to keep the virus from further spreading. In maryland, montgomery County closed all tennis and pick- leball courts, banned the use of basketball courts and playgrounds, and said it plans to heighten enforcement of social distancing rules at its parks and trails. for several weeks, the county’s Parks Department has placed signs at outdoor facilities, urging residents not to touch equipment or gather in large groups. follow- ing “repeated violations,” t he department has taken more serious steps, including removing basketball hoops at certain courts and placing orange barriers around playgrounds, o fficials said. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

erin cox, Rebecca tan, Rachel chason, Peter hermann, Michael Ruane, darran simon, laura Vozzella and tom Jackman contributed to this report.

this week that the city would need an additional 3,6 00 beds to handle an expected surge in coronavirus cases. She offered to create a $25 million fund to defray the costs. In a letter obtained by The Post on Thursday, Bowser asked hospital leaders to each identify how many new beds they need and to identify alternative facilities to care for patients, giving them a Thursday deadline. The city has also been looking for nonmedical facilities t o care f or patients and to build temporary facilities. Starting friday, District residents who meet certain criteria will be able to get tested for c ovid-19 at a new drive-through and walk-up site at United medical Center in Southeast Washing- ton, the city’s only public hospital. The site, which is operated in con- junction with George Washington University Hospital, was opened to first responders on T hursday. The facility will accept the patients who are exhibiting symp- toms and fall into one of these categories: those who are 65 or older, or have underlying health conditions; health-care employ- ees who work at a facility in the city; and D.C. first responders. The site will be open from 1 0 a.m. to 2 p.m., mondays, Wednesdays and fridays. for now,

mid-march. By comparison, 27,000 unemployment claims were filed in the city for a ll of 2 019. President Trump declared Vir- ginia a “ major disaster,” a d esigna- tion that makes it easier to secure federal funding to fight the pandemic. The District won the same declaration on march 29, and

maryland several days before t hat. maryland reported 346 new coronavirus cases Thursday, for a total of 2,332, a ccording to a Wash- ington Post analysis of government data. The state reported two fatalities, bringing maryland’s death total to 36. The District reported 67 new cases, for a total of 657, with 12 deaths. Virginia reported 222 new cases, b ringing i ts total to 1,708. There were five new deaths, for a total of 42 fatalities. Bowser (D) told local hospitals

hundreds of hospitals to chase their own supply chain, and you need to prioritize exactly what is available,” Trone s aid. In addition to a growing health crisis, the pandemic is wreaking economic catastrophe in the region and a cross the country. more than 212,0 00 residents of

the D istrict, maryland a nd Virgin- ia reported losing their jobs last week, twice the amount from the week before, federal data showed Thursday. In Virginia, there were 114,40 4 jobless claims filed for the week ending march 28, nearly 2 1/2 times as much as the week before. marylanders filed 83,536 claims during that span, double the total from the p rior week. In the District, which reported more recent numbers through Wednesday, nearly 4 4,00 0 residents h ave lost their jobs since

only can last for so many shifts — then it is hard to imagine how most sentient health-care workers will allow themselves to go to work, unarmed, into a firing squad,” Houpt said. But rep. David Trone (D-md.), who has dealt with global supply chains for decades as co-founder of a national wine retailer, said the numbers may not be as dire as they appear. He said it’s important to take into consideration the current situation in maryland, which has hundreds of ventilators that are not yet in use, and consider that the supplies will move a round the country as different areas ex- perience surges of cases. “We’re one country, and we’re here to help each other,” he said in an interview. Trone said h e is confident maryland will be prepared b y early may, when, he said, experts have told him the caseload will resemble surges experienced in t he h ardest- hit parts of New York and New Jersey. At the same time, he said the federal government should take charge of doling out equipment, instead of expecting state and local governments to compete among both public and private providers. “We’ve allowed 50 governors to chase their own supply chain, and

ment is giving states “what they
need, not necessarily what they
want.”
The distribution information
became public as the District,
maryland and Virginia reported
hundreds of new coronavirus cas-
es, a nd as tens of thousands of a rea
residents filed a record number of
jobless claims for the second con-
secutive w eek.
The number of regional fatali-
ties attributed to covid- 19 reached
90, underscoring officials’ con-
cerns that the national capital re-
gion will become a new epicenter
of infection in coming weeks de-
spite the “stay-at-home” orders
implemented this week.
States desperate for materials
from the national stockpile have
encountered a beleaguered sys-
tem beset by years of underfund-
ing and confusion over the alloca-
tion of supplies. fEmA only re-
cently inherited control of the
stockpile.
mike ricci, a spokesman for
maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (r),
said the details of what the region
has received “starkly illustrate”
what Hogan, chair of the National
Governors Association, has said:
“No state has enough of what it
needs to fight t his pandemic.”
“A s we prepare for a medical
surge in the nation’s capital, we
urge the federal government to
honor our full request of supplies
that we need to save lives,” said
LaTo ya foster, a spokeswoman f or
D.C. mayor muriel E. Bowser (D).
“We can’t wait until the surge is
here—we n eed it n ow.”
Besides receiving no ventila-
tors, the District also got none of
the safety goggles and hand sani-
tizer it asked for and received less
than 1 percent of a requested
663,760 gloves and 1 ,132,478 respi-
rator masks.
maryland received about a
third of the 181,5 95 face shields,
421,5 32 respirator masks and
778,129 surgical masks it request-
ed and about 43 percent of a re-
quested 330, 540 gloves. The state
did not receive any of the 15,000
body bags it asked for.
Virginia received no surgical
masks or face shields, and less
than 8 percent of the 2,214,388
respirators and 3,386, 976 g loves it
sought.
Eric r. Houpt, head of the Divi-
sion of Infectious Diseases and
International Health at the Uni-
versity of Virginia Health System,
said that while ventilators are im-
portant, personal protective
equipment such as the high-grade
respirator masks are in the “have
to have” c ategory as more patients
come through h ospitals.
“If a hospital system or commu-
nity gets to a point of, literally, no
more gowns, gloves, face shields,
or masks — let’s assume that d isin-
fection and re-use of current PPE

region from B1

D.C., Maryland, Virginia face major equipment shortages

Matt Mcclain/the Washington Post A pedestrian wears a mask while walking along 14th street nW in the District on thursday. the District got none of the safety goggles and hand sanitizer it requested from FemA and received less than 1 percent of a requested 6 63, 760 gloves and 1,132, 478 respirator masks.

“Forcing our medical personnel on the front lines of

this crisis to perform their duties without the

necessary safety equipment is a travesty. We must get

them the critical supplies they need without delay.” Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), house majority leader

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The Washigtnon Post - 03.04.2020

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