Virginia Senate GOP urges Northam to end all COVID-19 restrictions

(The Center Square) – Virginia’s universal mask mandate is over and the state’s social distancing and capacity restrictions are set to expire in less than two weeks, but Senate Republicans are urging Gov. Ralph Northam to go a step further by removing all state-imposed pandemic rules.

“Restoring our economy after this pandemic is not going to be easy,” Senate Republican Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City, said in a joint statement with other caucus leaders.

“Virginia cannot afford to fall behind our bordering neighbors, and other states to our south and west, by being late in lifting our COVID restrictions,” the statement read. “To hasten our recovery, and to restore the hospitality sector of our state’s economy as we enter the summer tourist season, we need to be among the nation’s first, not last, states to end its COVID restrictions.”

In an announcement Friday, Northam lifted the universal mask mandate for vaccinated and unvaccinated Virginians, but kept certain mask rules in place. Although people will not need to wear masks in restaurants, bars and stores, they will still need to wear them on public transit, in health care facilities and in congregate settings. Congregate settings include schools, homeless shelters, prisons and detention centers.

Although patrons will not need to wear the masks in places of businesses, employees in certain industries will have to wear them if they are unvaccinated. These industries include restaurants, retail stores, fitness centers, personal care businesses and entertainment venues.

As of Friday night at midnight, restaurants and bars were allowed to return to normal hours and the alcohol sale curfew ended. The governor also announced he would speed up the repeal of social distancing rules and capacity restrictions. All such rules will end May 28, which is two weeks earlier than previously planned.

Senate Republicans embraced the changes, but urged the governor to fully eliminate mask mandates and fully eliminate remaining restrictions on businesses.

“Although the Governor has publicly relaxed his mask mandate by removing the penalties associated with it, Virginia remains among the top states for COVID restrictions,” Norment and his colleges said. “Just last month, a survey from online financial site WalletHub found Virginia’s restrictions to be more severe than every state we border. Only Delaware, the District of Columbia, and Vermont were more restrictive than Virginia.”

The caucus also urged the governor to use resources to incentivize people to return to work and invigorate tourism.

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