The Washington Post - 14.03.2020

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METRO

SATURDAy, MARCH 14 , 2020. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONAL eZ sU B

RELIGION

the coronavirus has made

religious leaders nervous

because major holidays

are coming up. B2

THE DISTRICT

the Uptown theater, the

last of the district’s grand

movie palaces, has closed

its doors. B4

OBITUARIES

James P. Mcgrath, 82,

founded a tenants’ rights,

protection and advocacy

43 ° 52 ° 57 ° 53 ° organization. B6

8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.

High today at

approx. 5 p.m.

58

°

Precip: 5%

Wind: NW

7-14 mph

BY DARRAN SIMON,

LAURA VOZZELLA

AND OVETTA WIGGINS

Metro announced reductions in

service Friday, and Virginia

Gov. Ralph northam closed

schools for two weeks amid a

surge in the number of coronavi-

rus cases in the region and in-

creased c oncerns o ver t esting.

The transit agency said it will

reduce the frequency of trains,

starting Monday, and Metrobuses

will operate on a reduced w eekday

schedule as well. T he changes will

help Metro workers stay safe and

allow for even more stringent dis-

infecting o f rail cars and b uses as a

public health measure during the

coronavirus pandemic, officials

said.

The announcement by

northam (D) that schools must

close statewide came hours after

three northern Virginia public

school systems — Arlington, Alex-

andria and Falls Church — said

they would remain closed until

mid-April, with some distance

learning planned. Fairfax County,

which h as Virginia’s largest school

system, said it would be closed

until m id-April as well.

D.C. Mayor Muriel e. Bowser

(D) said the District’s traditional

public schools would close and

students would move to distance

learning for the rest of March. All

Maryland public schools will close

from March 16 through 27, state

officials a nnounced T hursday.

As of Friday afternoon, the

number of reported cases of the

novel coronavirus in the D.C. re-

see dmV on b4

BY REBECCA TAN

AND FENIT NIRAPPIL

In one week, the number of

covid-19 cases in the District,

Maryland and Virginia went f rom

zero to 42, a majority of them

located in or around the nation’s

capital. As of Thursday night,

11 cases were reported in the

District, 18 in Virginia and 13 in

Maryland.

The numbers continued to

jump Friday.

The Washington Post exam-

ined the first week’s worth of

cases, and found that slightly

fewer than half the patients are

older than 60; more are male

than female. The cases spread to

17 jurisdictions in the first week,

with most linked to either travel

in a place where there was an

outbreak or to a preexisting pa-

tient.

There are seven cases in which

authorities have either not deter-

mined or not revealed the likely

source of the virus.

Here is an accounting of the

first week of coronavirus patients

in the region:

How it began

The virus’s first known appear-

ance in the region was announced

March 5: three travel-related cas-

es in Montgomery County, Md., a

suburb of 1 million just north of

Washington, D.C.

over that weekend, more cases

emerged, including the first posi-

tive test for covid-19 in the Dis-

trict — a rector at a prominent

Georgetown church, which has

since been connected to several

other patients.

As h ealth officials tried to track

down people who were possibly

infected and ramp up testing, the

number of cases more than dou-

bled every 48 hours and spread to

17 jurisdictions. While the one-

see Victims on b5

THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

M etro reducing rail and bus services

More cancellations,

closures announced;

grocers s ee b uying frenzy

Local cases: Where the area stands

BY PERRY STEIN

AND HANNAH NATANSON

every school district in the

Washington region will close for

an extended period starting

Monday, a serious escalation in

officials’ battle against the grow-

ing coronavirus outbreak — and

a moment without precedent in

the history of Washington-region

education.

The closures tumbled out rap-

id-fire over the course of the day

Friday. It began with D.C. Mayor

Muriel e. Bowser (D), who an-

nounced early in the morning

that the District’s public schools

would close for at least two

weeks. The city’s charter cam-

puses also will close.

Hours later, Virginia systems

followed suit: Arlington Public

schools and Falls Church City

Public schools posted on social

media that they would close for

nearly a month, until students

returned from spring break on

April 14. Within seconds, Alexan-

dria City Public schools also

tweeted that it would shutter

see scHools on b4

All of

region’s

schools

to shutter

CORONAVIRUS MOVE

IS A F IRST

Extended closures pose

huge range of challenges

BY ERIN COX

AND OVETTA WIGGINS

The Maryland General Assem-

bly’s presiding officers an-

nounced heightened social dis-

tancing policies Friday, barring

lobbyists from state House legis-

lative chambers and allowing

them to enter state office build-

ings only by appointment.

senate President Bill Ferguson

(D-Baltimore City) also raised the

possibility of adjourning the 90-

day session early, though that

decision will be made on a “day-

by-day” basis.

state lawmakers are triaging

the more than 2,400 bills still

pending before them, advancing

the most crucial legislation. The

top priorities include the

$48.5 billion budget, an overhaul

of public schools and coronavirus

legislation that, among other

things, would give job protec-

tions to workers ordered into

quarantine. The senate also fast-

tracked a bill to loosen restric-

tions on telemedicine.

“We will do what it takes to get

the most critical and important

work done, and nothing more,”

Ferguson said.

state legislatures across the

country are weighing whether to

shut down work.

In Colorado and Idaho, law-

makers are rushing to finish their

work early because of the epi-

demic. The Missouri senate

broke early, and the ohio House

of Representatives canceled ses-

sions indefinitely. In Tennessee, a

lawmaker’s request to adjourn

early was rebuffed.

In Maryland, the General As-

sembly has not adjourned early

since the Civil War, the senate

president said.

“We need to get out of here,”

senate Minority Leader J.B. Jen-

nings (R-Harford) said in an in-

terview. He suggested that the

General Assembly take action on

the operating budget, capital

budget a nd emergency bills. “The

minute someone in this chamber

or that chamber tests positive, we

all get quarantined and this gets

shut down.”

The general public has already

been barred from the Maryland

state House under aggressive so-

cial distancing policies Gov. Lar-

ry Hogan (R) announced Thurs-

day evening. schools will be

closed for two weeks starting

Monday, a nd all gatherings of 250

or more have been prohibited,

among many other measures.

In a tweet late Friday, Hogan

urged lawmakers to finish a

smaller subset of their priorities

by Tuesday, prompting a harsh

rebuke from House speaker Adri-

see Assembly on b6

Md. legislators prepare for possibility of session ending early

Leaders announce new

social distancing policies,

weekend sessions

BY FREDRICK KUNKLE

AND MICHAEL E. RUANE

Jittery residents — a few wear-

ing masks and rubber gloves —

crowded grocery stores and big-

box warehouses Friday hoping to

stock up on supplies and ride out

an unprecedented call to help

stop, or at l east slow, the spread o f

the novel coronavirus.

Many people, under orders to

work from home as a safety pre-

caution, piled into stores where

there was more than a little panic-

buying and hoarding, as well as a

few fights over p arking spaces and

food. one woman said she left a

store in tears after watching peo-

ple battle over frozen food.

some bought stuff they thought

see stores on b3

Buying,

hoarding

and some

fighting, too

Fears of long quarantines

trigger run on grocery

and big-box stores

BY PERRY STEIN

Miss P’s Daycare is trying t o stay o pen.

The already-cautious Angelique speight-

Marshall — who has operated the day care out

of her northwest Washington home for two

decades — i s being hypervigilant as the corona-

virus outbreak threatens her operation and

income.

Before people can enter Miss P’s Daycare,

they must place plastic coverings over their

shoes a nd squirt sanitizer o n their hands. After

the seven children in her care leave each eve-

ning, speight-Marshall washes and disinfects

the sheets they napped on, the clothes they

wore, and t he toys t hey touched.

D.C. Mayor Muriel e. Bowser (D) recom-

mended Friday that the city’s more than

400 child-care f acilities close through M arch in

an attempt to contain the coronavirus out-

break. Mass closures of day cares could leave

thousands of day-care workers in the region

without a paycheck and parents s crambling for

child-care a lternatives.

Day-care facilities are privately operated,

and the mayor is not forcing them to close.

Many are shutting down, but some operators

including s peight-Marshall, h ope to stay o pen.

speight-Marshall said m any of h er clients work

in health care and need t o go t o work.

“This is the scariest thing that has hap-

pened,” s peight-Marshall said.

Bowser acknowledged Friday that some par-

ents will need day care during the city’s wide-

spread closures and is working with city agen-

see dAycAre on b5

‘This is the scariest thing’

Day-care providers take

precautions as they try

to stay open amid virus

AstrId rIecKen for tHe WAsHIngton Post

day-care operators like Angelique speight-marshall are trying to stay open; closing day cares could be catastrophic for providers and some parents.