Virginia enters phase one Friday as mandatory face mask rule goes into effect

The entirety of Virginia will be in phase one of reopening beginning Friday, as Richmond, Accomack County and the northern Virginia region join the rest of the state.

Restaurants in these three regions will be able to operate at 50 percent capacity outdoors but still cannot have indoor seating. Nonessential businesses can operate at 50 percent capacity, and salons and barbershops can operate by appointment only if they can maintain social distancing and they wear face coverings.

Gyms and fitness centers will be allowed to hold outdoor fitness classes, but cannot hold indoor fitness classes. Churches and other places of worship are allowed to reopen at 50 percent capacity.

As of Friday, public beaches can reopen for recreational activities throughout the state with certain limitations: no tents, no large gatherings, no group sports and no alcohol. Social distancing will be required. NASCAR and other vehicle-related sports will be allowed to operate single-day events without spectators.

A new rule also will go into effect statewide: people will be required to wear face coverings when in indoor public spaces, per Executive Order 63.

Businesses will be required to adopt a face mask policy and inform customers of this policy, but they will not be required to enforce the executive order, according to Rita Davis, counsel to Gov. Ralph Northam. In a news conference Thursday, Davis said if a customer repeatedly violates the order, a business can ask them to leave or reach out to the Virginia Department of Health.

Northam said police will not be involved in enforcing face coverings. He said a business is allowed to ask a person to leave their property and involve police if a confrontation ensues, but they will not be required to do that.

Although the government is saying businesses will not be required to enforce the mandate, the state does have a process by which it will enforce the executive order if a business is found to be grossly negligent and repeatedly in violation of the order. If this occurs, the Department of Health can seek a civil injunction to enforce the order or have a warrant issued by a magistrate.

“What is important to remember in all of this is that it should not be the responsibility of the Virginia Department of Health to make sure you are wearing your mask, and it certainly should not be the responsibility of law enforcement or a business to make sure you are wearing a face covering,” Davis said. “Rather, it is the personal responsibility of each and every one of us to comply with Executive Order 63. It is the right thing to do, and it is the right thing to do to protect oneself, to protect one’s family and your fellow Virginians.”

Northam said Virginia continues to hit its benchmarks for reopening the economy. He said the commonwealth has continued to expand its testing capacity, and the percent of COVID-19 tests that come back positive have continued to trend downward. According to the Department of Health’s website, the seven-day moving average for percent positive tests was 13.8 percent Sunday, which was lower than the week prior: 15.1 percent May 17. More recent numbers still are coming in.

Virginia has had 41,401 COVID-19 cases, 4,442 hospitalizations and 1,338 deaths, according to Department of Health’s most-recent report. In the U.S., at least 101,337 people have died from COVID-19, and there have been more than more than 1.7 million cases.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus. COVID-19 symptoms appear within two to 14 days after exposure and include fever, cough, difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell.