Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson is full of praise for the city’s COVID-19 response efforts, but the hard times are just beginning, he told ALXnow in a recent interview.
“Everyone is trying to find so many different ways to give back,” Wilson said. “It’s been very gratifying and we’re gonna need it because the need is only going to be exacerbated over the next couple of weeks and months, if not longer.”
Alexandria City Public Schools have added three “grab and go” breakfast and lunch distribution locations for children over the age of two.
Food distribution at all the ACPS locations has also been limited to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to encourage social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic that has shuttered the school system for the remainder of the academic year.
Alexandria City Manager Mark Jinks said Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic has created the worst financial crisis he’s ever seen, and has asked staff to make $100 million in budget cuts and prepare for a $35 million revenue shortfall in his fiscal year 2021 budget.
“We crashed, and we don’t know how long this is going to last, when we’re going to come back up,” Jinks told the City Council/School Board Subcommittee in an online meeting. “I’ve told staff we need $100 million in cuts and savings between the current fiscal year and next fiscal year, is my rough guess. That will be savings and looking at capital projects and seeing what we need to cancel or what we need to reschedule to a future year.”
Alexandria City Public Schools are closed for the remainder of the school year.
Governor Ralph Northam made the announcement on Monday, effectively closing all public schools in Virginia.
The COVID-19 shutdown has brought an early summer slide to Alexandria City Public School students.
On Friday, the School Board discussed the issue in its first online meeting since canceling all in-person meetings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has closed the school system until April 14.
Alexandria Hospital Suspends Visitation — “Exceptions to Inova Health System’s Visitation Guidance can be made in extenuating circumstances and with prior approval from a care site’s administration.” [Zebra]
Man Convicted for 2016 Rape — “[P]olice in Alexandria — for the first time — ran DNA through public genealogical databases and developed a family tree based on known DNA profiles, which pointed to Bjerke as a suspect. After Bjerke was arrested, a buccal swab of his DNA matched DNA found on the victim.” [WTOP]
Alexandria has officially entered into the community spread phase of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Dr. Rina Bansal, president of Inova Alexandria Hospital.
That means that direct exposure to the virus can not be traced back to its source.
Volunteer Alexandria needs volunteers — mostly delivery drivers — to help the city’s nonprofits, school system and food banks during the COVID-19 pandemic that has shut down most of the city.
Volunteer Alexandria Executive Director Marion Brunken told ALXnow that about 100 volunteers registered over the course of last weekend. The volunteers are asked whether they have been exposed to the virus.
[Updated at 12:10 p.m.] Alexandria City Public Schools on Monday will start providing two days worth of free breakfast and lunch meals for any enrolled ACPS student on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 8 a.m. and noon. at five new distribution points.
“Meals consist of cold breakfast and lunch, including fresh fruits and vegetables, salads and sandwiches for multiple days per the student’s need,” ACPS spokeswoman Julie Allen told ALXnow.
City Manager Mark Jinks says that his proposed fiscal year 2021 budget will be deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and predicts that proposed capital investments will take a hit.
“There will be notable changes in the budget, probably I would suspect capital investments,” Jinks told ALXnow. “We’ve got projects related to city facilities, school facilities that we could do differently. Maybe we talk to Arlington about how the Glebe Road Bridge could stay up as it is for another year. Maybe it can’t.”
Alexandria City Public Schools is working on multiple contingencies for the coronavirus pandemic, including closing until the end of the school year.
The school system is currently closed until the end of spring break, April 14.
