B4 eZ su the washington post.wednesday, march 11 , 2020
cers and emergency personnel, to
monitor themselves for symp-
toms. T hat’s because a person who
attended the conference w as diag-
nosed with the virus after he re-
turned h ome t o New Jersey.
All federal courthouses in the
Eastern District of Virginia have
suspended “non-case related out-
side events,” including tours and
naturalization ceremonies, at
least t hrough t he end of march.
In fairfax County, elected offi-
cials worked to maintain calm
while wrestling with questions
about when to consider closing
schools and canceling public
meetings.
“I don’t think any one of us
wants to be hosting the meeting
that spreads this disease,” fairfax
County Supervisor Pat Herrity (r-
Springfield) said. “I don’t want to
panic, but I also want to be smart.”
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]nick anderson, sarah Pulliam Bailey,
erin Cox, dana hedgpeth, Luz Lazo,
hannah natanson, darran simon,
Patricia sullivan, Rebecca tan, Rachel
weiner and ovetta wiggins
contributed to this report.“This notion that if a student
who is a contact of an asymptom-
atic contact of a case attends a
particular school that something
needs to happen in that school is
not scientifically d riven,” s he s aid.
Hogan said h e has i nstructed all
nursing homes and assisted-living
facilities to limit visitors and bar
their workers from international
travel, measures h e hopes w ill p re-
vent an outbreak like the one in
the Kirkland, Wash., nursing
home where over a dozen resi-
dents have d ied.
“We want to do everything in
our p ower to avoid t hat situation,”
Hogan said at t he start of a cabinet
meeting in Annapolis. “This prob-
lem continues to evolve and esca-
late r apidly.”
Hogan and other officials said
they expect a rapid rise in diag-
nosed cases as testing expands.
Like the rest of the nation, mary-
land will soon move f rom trying to
contain the virus to mitigating its
impact, h e said.
In Prince George’s County, offi-
cials have told h undreds of people
who worked at or attended the
Conservative Political Action Con-
ference at National Harbor late
last month, including police offi-tining, Volmer said. In addition to
Smith, Volmer said, other church
staff members and their immedi-
ate families have been tested, with
results n egative o r pending.
Virginia Theological Seminary
in Alexandria, Va., the largest
Episcopal seminary in the United
States, said Tuesday that a group
of seminarians and two faculty
members are under self-quaran-
tine because they were in contact
with Cole. Two seminary officials
appeared at a march 3 event at
Christ Church.
None of them are showing
symptoms of the virus, but offi-
cials at the seminary are asking
that people who are at higher risk
for serious illness stay away from
the campus.
D.C. Health Director LaQuan-
dra S. Nesbitt said people who
have come into contact with
Christ Church attendees who are
not showing symptoms of the cor-
onavirus do not need to change
their habits. She said parents
should not panic, for example, if
their child is attending school
with someone who has been in
contact with a patient but is not
feverish or experiencing respira-
tory symptoms themselves.historic Episcopal congregation.
D.C. mayor muriel E. Bowser
(D) on monday asked people who
had been at the church feb. 24 or
between feb. 28 and march 3 to
quarantine themselves at home
for a 14-day period. The specified
dates w ere w hen the rev. T imothy
Cole, 59, the church rector who
was diagnosed with the virus Sat-
urday, was in t he b uilding and m ay
have been infectious. Among oth-
er things, Cole attended a march 3
“Legos for Lent” event where
small c hildren and adults s hared a
buffet-style dinner, church
spokesman rob Volmer said.
Cole is hospitalized in stable
condition. The church organist,
To m Smith, 39, tested positive for
the v irus monday. He is i n quaran-
tine at his D.C. home “in good
spirits,” with mild symptoms, Vol-
mer said. Smith was at Sunday
services march 1 and a choral
event that evening, Volmer said,
but did not attend other large
events that w eek.
The diagnosis of the Loudoun
man who a ttended the church was
reported Tuesday.
Church officials have heard
from families making up roughly
200 people who are self-quaran-least t hree school campuses in t he
city, a spokesman said. Those cam-
puses were scheduled for deep-
cleaning overnight.
The newly diagnosed patient in
Loudoun County is sick but in
good condition and self-isolating
at home, county officials said.
They said the man did not appear
to have interacted with anyone
who is elderly, immunocompro-
mised or otherwise considered at
high risk for covid-19, the disease
caused by t he virus.
“We are continuing to do every-
thing in our power to keep Loud-
oun safe and healthy,” said Phyllis
J. randall (D-At Large), chair of
the county board. “Any risk, right
now, to the Loudoun community
from this case remains low.”
Authorities s ay p eople c an limit
the spread of the virus, and their
susceptibility to it, by staying
home if they are ill, washing their
hands frequently and avoiding
people who have respiratory
symptoms. People w ho develop fe-
ver, cough or shortness of breath
should consult health-care pro-
viders about whether they should
be tested.
At least three cases of the virus
are connected to Christ Church, aough handwashing. School offi-
cials said health-related absences
will be excused without a doctor’s
note.
Both maryland’s public univer-
sity system and American Univer-
sity in the District announced
plans to keep students away from
campus for a short time after
spring break, teaching them on-
line instead of in person, in an
effort to slow the spread of the
virus in the region. other colleges
and universities throughout the
country are taking similar s teps.
fairfax County Public Schools
canceled classes for its 188,000
students monday, so that teachers
can attend training on how to
conduct classes online, should
that s tep b ecome necessary.
The Alexandria school system
sent an email to families Tuesday
to say a small number of students
and staff — fewer than a dozen —
were self-quarantining because
they had come into contact with
people who have contracted the
coronavirus or had visited foreign
countries or traveled on cruise
ships that were a concern. The
individuals are affiliated with at
outbreak from b1
At least three coronavirus cases are linked to Christ Church in Georgetown
Kathe had decided to use what
was left i n the cupboard and made
the Barefoot Contessa’s Italian
wedding soup with the chicken
stock they had around. “Vienna
Blood,” a PBS mystery series set in
early-20th-century Vienna, was
on the menu for entertainment.
Nitze, their bridge partner, was
suddenly no longer saddled with
mundane duties — a trip to collect
his 2010 Honda Civic hybrid from
the shop and an inspection of an
easement as part of his role on a
historic preservation committee.
Like his friends, he was not anx-
ious about the coronavirus.
“This is a case of you do what
you have to do and make the best
of it,” s aid Nitze, a former general
counsel for mobil oil and a trust-
ee at the Aspen Institute who
serves on the boards of several
companies.
on monday afternoon, that
meant a solitary jog around the
neighborhood and perhaps more
time contemplating the Pirkei
Avot, a part of the Ta lmud also
known as “Ethics of the fathers.”
In k eeping with the Lenten sea-
son, he is using his retreat from
daily life to reflect on b ig ques-
tions. of course, this is something
he does anyway — mulling over
the coming “environmental apoc-
alypse” a nd what he thinks will be
the likely dominance of artificial
intelligence over the human race
about 200 years from now. He
co-teaches a class in AI and ethics
at G eorge mason University.
“I spend a fair amount of time
thinking about some of these big-
ger questions. I have no answers,”
he said. “I have extra time to think
about them now.”
[email protected]Fenit nirappil, Rebecca tan and
Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this
report.he was purposely flouting the ad-
vice to self-quarantine?
Confused, he headed home, de-
ciding that perhaps sharing cards
in a game of bridge wasn’t in
anybody’s best interest.
meanwhile, his two buddies
were making the most of it at
home, too. Edwin Williamson, 80,
and Kathe had decided to post-
pone a ski trip Thursday to Utah
with their grandchildren, but that
was fine. They had been married
50 years and were fully at ease in
each other’s company. Their doc-
tor had told them that a walk
would be just fine if they stayed
away from other pedestrians, so
they strolled about in the sun-
shine on monday.somehow quarantine himself but
he wasn’t s ure how far to take it —
he had been at an earlier service
on march 1 and had no contact
with Cole. No one was coughing
around him in church; he hadn’t
shared a hymnal.
The 77-year-old former partner
at WilmerHale had ventured to
the small law firm he now runs in
downtown Washington on mon-
day before hearing the self-quar-
antine news. He was a prominent
member of the church, as White
House counsel under President
George H.W. Bush and later Presi-
dent George W. Bush’s ambassa-
dor to the European Union, and
this made him worry. If people
recognized him, would they thinkSpring, md., attended the late-
morning service on march 1, and
shook Cole’s h and at t he end of the
service, he said. He washed his
hands later, comfortable that Cole
appeared healthy and practiced
good hygiene.
on monday, he went golfing in
reston, Va., keeping a club’s dis-
tance away from friends and rid-
ing his cart solo on the course. He
planned to contact a doctor, but
felt no symptoms, he said.
“This isn’t the black plague; we
are not dropping like flies,” Can-
non said. “I guess I’ve just been
around too long to think we all
need to go in shelter mode.”
Gray was far less certain about
what to do. He thought he shouldported symptoms.
The congregation is “highly
motivated,” with many members
who have served in the military,
the government and other com-
munity-minded jobs, said church
altar guild member Sally Wil-
helm, 68, an author, adjunct pro-
fessor and former health reporter
for The Washington Post. “This is
a population that has been in-
volved in a lot of public service
and cares a lot about the country.”
In fact, Cole was a senior chap-
lain in the British army for more
than 20 years.
most church members are also
in the enviable position of being
able to do the right thing — with
plenty of money and ample sick
leave, the ability to work from
home or no need to work at all. It
would be much harder if they
weren’t so affluent, said William-
son’s wife, Kathe Williamson.
“We’re fine,” s he said. “It would
be very difficult for someone who
wouldn’t get paid to self-quaran-
tine.”
Wilhelm had been in her Wood-
ley Park home packing t o visit her
93-year-old father, who had just
had surgery in St. Petersburg, fla.,
for a pacemaker, when she re-
ceived the email about Cole. She
didn’t t hink t wice about self-quar-
antining and, in fact, she consid-
ered it fortuitous, she said, given
that she had served on the altar
guild during the 11:15 a.m. service
march 1, receiving her Commu-
nion wafer directly from Cole.
“I’m really glad I learned before
I got on the plane,” possibly im-
periling her dad and others, she
said.
Although most parishioners
appear to be taking the self-quar-
antining guidelines seriously,
James Cannon was struck by an-
other piece of advice: Don’t p anic.
The 67-year-old from Silverpoints in the past two weeks to
self-quarantine for 14 days. Late
monday, Christ Church said its
organist, To m Smith, 39, also had
been infected with the coronavi-
rus.
And the virus’s sweep had now
reached the halls of Congress,
with President Trump’s incoming
chief of staff, r ep. mark meadows
(r-N.C.), and two other lawmak-
ers self-quarantining after com-
ing into contact with an infected
person at the Conservative Politi-
cal Action Conference last month.
Activities scuttled by the met-
ropolitan Club bridge players in-
cluded a meeting with a guberna-
torial candidate, a trip to inspect
an easement for a local historic
preservation group, a ski trip to
Utah with grandkids and a quick
zip to an auto body shop in North-
east to get a bumper fixed. After
conferring quickly, Gray, Nitze
and Williamson decided that the
monday bridge game was out of
the question, too.
“We have shut down and self-
quarantined,” said Nitze, 77, who
consulted twice with his son in
Brookline, mass., before making
what in the end seemed like an
inescapable call.
The three men, former part-
ners in law firms and movers in
government and industry, live
steps away from one another in
Georgetown. They were joined by
many other church members in
deciding to voluntarily hole up
until the danger passes. They cit-
ed a sense of duty to their neigh-
bors and the public to prevent the
spread of the coronavirus, which
has been striking older a dults and
immune-suppressed people hard-
est. A good portion of the Christ
Church congregation is elderly,
although none interviewed re-
quarantine from b1
Congregants ‘make the best of it’ during self-quarantine
Jahi Chikwendiu/the washington Post
a pedestrian walks Monday near Christ Church Georgetown. attendees of recent services have been
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