The Washigtnon Post - 03.04.2020

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The disTricT

Coronavirus-related court

actions sought the release

of d.C. psychiatric

patients. b3

The disTricT

some charter schools

weighed seeking federal

funds that are for firms

hurt by the coronavirus. b 4

obiTuaries

noted pianist and teacher

ellis Marsalis, 85, was the

patriarch of the american

46 ° 54 ° 61 ° 56 ° first family of jazz. b6

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

High today at

approx. 4 p.m.

61

°

Precip: 0%

Wind: NW

12-25 mph

the folks at Miriam’s Kitchen

have been serving more than 100

breakfasts and even more

lunches every day during the

novel coronavirus crisis.

They had to shut down their

indoor day program and decided

to move their food service

outside to keep it social

distancing kosher.

so they rented the big tent.

And it looks like a bizarre

receiving line happening in a

ghost town before dawn every

morning, as the desperate are

allowed — one at a time — to go

into the tent and get breakfast.

That was Monday morning,

when 16 reporters from The

see dvorak on b3

shelter in place?

stay at home?

not for these

guys, who have no

home and want

nothing to do with

a D.C. shelter.

“I’m sleeping

rough. no way I’m

going into a shelter,” a man

dressed in camo and utility pants

told me as he ducked out of what

looked like a wedding tent.

“They’re saying someone

tested positive at one of the

shelters,” he said. “no, thank

you.”

He was outside Western

Presbyterian Church across the

street from the Watergate, where

Fear of virus leads D.C.’s

homeless to stay outside

Petula

Dvorak

BY ANTONIO OLIVO,

JENNA PORTNOY

AND FENIT NIRAPPIL

Washington-area leaders
slammed the Trump administra-
tion Thursday over significant
shortfalls in the number of hospi-
tal ventilators, respirator masks,
gloves and other supplies deliv-
ered from a national stockpile to
help combat the fast-spreading
novel coronavirus.
Virginia, Maryland and t he Dis-
trict received just a fraction of the
equipment they requested from
the Federal emergency Manage-
ment Agency, w ith the D istrict get-
ting zero hospital ventilators and
Maryland getting none of the na-
sal swabs used for testing, accord-

ing to documents released Thurs-

day by the House oversight Com-

mittee.

“The Administration’s f ailure to

take this pandemic seriously from

the o nset will cost American lives,”

House Majority Leader steny H.

Hoyer (D-Md.) s aid in a statement.

“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 n eed without

delay.”

Virginia Gov. Ralph northam

(D) said the equipment delivered

“isn’t close to enough.”

“We need more, period,” the

governor said in a statement. “Vir-

ginia will continue to exhaust ev-

ery option — including federal

support — to get what we need on

the f ront lines.”

The White House referred ques-

tions to FeMA, which said the

stockpile was never intended to

fulfill all state and local needs in

the coronavirus pandemic and

that t he f ederal government i s try-

ing to find other ways to obtain

supplies t o combat t he virus.

FeMA has obtained additional

supplies from the global market

for distribution “in varying quan-

tities, first to medical distributors

in areas o f greatest need; then, the

remainder w ill be i nfused into the

broader U.s. supply chain,” the

agency said in a statemment. “Pri-

oritization will be given to hospi-

tals, health care facilities, and

nursing homes around the coun-

try.”

Robert Kadlec, the assistant

secretary of Preparedness and R e-

sponse at the Department of

Health and Human services, told

the oversight Committee on

March 30 that the federal govern-

see region on b2

The coronavirus pandemic

Region’s leaders slam White House over lack of supplies

ventilators, masks, gloves are scarce

FEMA: National cache isn’t meant to fulfill all needs

Bill o’leary/the Washington Post

d.c. mayor muriel e. bowser (d) told hospitals this week that the

city would need to add 3, 600 beds to handle c oronavirus cases.

BY JUSTIN GEORGE

The Metro board on Thursday

approved a budget for the fiscal

year that begins July 1 but ac-

knowledged it may have to be

revisited as soon as June because

of the fiscal uncertainty created

by the coronavirus pandemic.

officials said some services

and new initiatives might have to

be cut back after state and local

governments cautioned they

might not be able to meet their

funding commitments to the

agency because of revenue losses

caused by the crisis.

“We understand that this will

be a particularly challenging time

for our partners as well, so we’re

going to have to work together on

this,” Metro board Chairman Paul

C. smedberg said.

The $3. 9 billion budget, ap-

proved unanimously with board

members meeting virtually, in-

cludes $2.1 billion for operating

expenses and $1.8 billion for capi-

tal investment spending.

The budget does not include

any projections or assumptions

tied to the coronavirus outbreak

or any anticipated long-term im-

pacts for a number of reasons,

officials said. However, the virus’s

impact thus far has created a

$67 million deficit for the transit

agency, including $17 million in

unanticipated expenses for

gloves, sanitizer, disinfectants

and other supplies the agency

ordered to protect against the

pandemic and $2.5 million a day

in lost fare revenue due to service

reductions, stay-at-home orders

and general fear, according to

General Manager Paul J. Wie-

defeld.

Metro officials said they antici-

pate much if not all of those losses

will be covered by the $25 billion

Congress included for public

transit in the $2 trillion coronavi-

rus relief package lawmakers

passed last month. The Federal

see board on b4

Virus woes

may upend

new Metro

budget

BY RACHEL WEINER

AND JUSTIN WM. MOYER

noel sinkiat, 64, planned to

retire in December after 41 years

working as a nurse at Howard

University Hospital. He would fi-

nally go on a long motorcycle trip

with his friends.

on March 27 he died of covid-

19, the disease caused by the novel

coronavirus, according to his

family. sinkiat was the first mem-

ber of national nurses United,

which represents about 150,000

health-care workers nationwide,

to succumb to the virus, the union

said.

“It was so fast,” his wife,

Lourdes Gerardo, said.

As he was hospitalized at Med-

star Montgomery Medical Center

near their house in olney, Md.,

sinkiat’s condition deteriorated

rapidly. Gerardo was able to see

him only briefly, from behind a

protective suit. since her hus-

band’s death, Gerardo has tested

positive, so she could not pick up

his body from the hospital or

gather with anyone to mourn his

death.

The couple had returned in late

February from a trip to the Philip-

pines for Gerardo’s high school

see sinkiat on b5

Nurse looked forward to

retiring, motorcycle trip

BY FENIT NIRAPPIL

AND DARRAN SIMON

Long before the coronavirus
began to decimate the local econ-
omy, the D.C. Department of em-
ployment services promised a
modern, user-friendly portal for
submitting unemployment
claims.
The agency told the federal
government and the D.C. Council
that the project could be finished
as early as 2018. Then they said
the winter of 2019, and later July
2019, according to documents re-
viewed by The Washington Post.
The city missed all those marks
despite spending about $9 mil-
lion.

now D.C. workers facing re-

cord layoffs because of the coro-

navirus shutdown must rely on a

website built in the early 2000 s

that does not work on mobile

phones and was ill-equipped to

handle the huge surge in cases.

Workers filed nearly 44,000 un-

employment claims in the last

month, compared with 27,000 in

all of 2019.

Because the online claim-filing

system relies on programming

language dating to the 1950 s, it

took more than two weeks for

developers to remove a question

about applicants’ efforts to find

other jobs, even after officials

waived that requirement.

see unemployment on b8

‘Archaic’ D.C. jobless

site increases anxiety

BY LAUREN LUMPKIN

L

atease Jordan’s college, like most

colleges, is basically closed. Class-

rooms have shuttered, offices are

locked shut, courses have shifted

online.

But Jordan is waiting to move into a new

home and doesn’t have Internet access. so

Tuesday, she drove a half-hour from her

friend’s house in southeast Washington to

the University of the District of Columbia in

Van ness, so she could go to one of the few

places on campus that was open: the library.

It’s farther than Jordan’s usual study spot,

UDC’s community college on north Capitol

street, but with most of the college s huttered,

it was her only option.

Cleaning crews had sanitized the key-

boards, computer monitors, door handles

and light switches. signs on the chairs

reminded students about social distancing.

But it was open. It has to be, said erik

Thompson, the school’s vice president of real

estate and f acilities m anagement, s o students

like Jordan, who at 31 is pursuing an

associate degree in respiratory therapy, can

attend virtual lectures and complete their

assignments. sometimes Jordan brings her

3-year-old daughter, Lareaia, so she can play

educational video games recommended by

her pre-K teacher.

see commuity colleges on b2

A community for s tudents’ needs

Two-year colleges open computer labs and expand WiFi access so degrees can be completed on time

toni l. sandys/the Washington Post

latease Jordan, a student at the university of the district of columbia, does classwork in the library on tuesday. she is waiting to move

into a new home and doesn’t have internet access. “i just need these resources,” she said. “it’s quiet, clean, and there are no distractions.”

virus death: a corrections officer

is recalled as a father figure. b5