Three coronavirus cases linked to D.C. church; Colleges cancel in-person classes
D.C. officials say ‘non-essential mass gatherings’ should be canceled or postponed
(about 13 hours later)
Six new coronavirus cases were announced in Maryland and Virginia on Tuesday, and officials said several universities in the region will temporarily halt in-person classes in an effort to stop the virus from spreading.
D.C. Health Department officials are recommending that “non-essential mass gatherings, including conferences and conventions,” be postponed or canceled in the nation’s capital.
Twenty-two coronavirus cases have now been reported in the region.
The recommendation is in effect through March 31.
Loudoun County officials said a man in his 40s who tested positive had attended Christ Church in Georgetown, where both the rector and the organist also were diagnosed with the virus. The man is in good condition, officials said.
“Mass gatherings are defined as events where 1,000 or more people congregate in a specific location,” the city said in a health advisory.
In Virginia Beach, the city health department said a man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s had contracted the virus while traveling on the same Nile River cruise line that has been linked to multiple other cases. Both are isolated and in stable condition.
“We also recommend that any social, cultural, or entertainment events where large crowds are anticipated be reconsidered by the organizer.”
A woman in Montgomery County who had traveled on the Nile River cruise line also was found to have the virus Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said. A Prince George’s County couple who took a cruise with that company have tested positive for the virus, as well.
Officials made the announcement as Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam reported a 9th coronavirus victim in that state, bringing the number of people testing positive for covid-19 in the District, Maryland or Virginia as of Wednesday morning to 23.
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Also Wednesday, organizers announced the District’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which was to be held Sunday, will be postponed because of concerns about the virus.
Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks said another county resident in her 50s, who tested positive for the virus Monday, appears to have contracted the virus while on a trip to Boston from Feb. 22 to Feb. 27.
“This decision was not made lightly and was done out of caution to ensure the safety and health of the thousands of attendees from the Washington area that attend the parade every year,” said a message posted to the group’s website.
Prince George’s officials declined to say if the woman was attending a conference in Boston that has been linked to dozens of other coronavirus cases. All three Prince George’s patients are self-quarantined at home and in good condition.
City health officials have expanded a self-quarantine recommendation for people who visited a church at the center of three confirmed coronavirus cases, and D.C. Public Schools said it would close Monday to give teachers a chance to prepare for distance learning for students. The school system shifted a teacher training day from March 20 to March 16 to do the preparations as quickly as possible.
Alsobrooks (D) spoke at the county emergency operations center in front of a giant digital map of the nation with a ticker of global coronavirus cases that, during the news conference, read: 116,152.
Northam (D) said the latest Virginia case was a person in the Chickahominy Health District, in the area of Hanover County. Officials said the person had traveled to a country that was experiencing an outbreak, but did not give additional details.
“This is a virus, and we expect it to spread,” she said. “We believe the public has a role in helping us to prevent it from spreading. Viruses spread, the flu spreads. But we have the power in our community to keep it from spreading.”
In the District, three cases have been reported that are connected to Christ Church, a historic Episcopal congregation. Rev. Timothy Cole, 59, the church rector, was diagnosed with the virus, as was the church organist and a member from Loudoun County.
Officials urged people who feel sick to stay home from work and school and repeated instructions for good hygiene, including thorough handwashing. School officials said health-related absences will be excused without a doctor’s note.
Three coronavirus cases linked to D.C. church; Colleges cancel in-person classes
Both Maryland’s public university system and American University in the District announced plans to keep students away from campus for a short time after spring break, teaching them online 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 steps.
The church emailed parishioners Wednesday to tell them that D.C. health officials have expanded the self-quarantine recommendation announced Monday, to account for days the organist was there.
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 step become necessary.
In addition to people who were at the church on Feb. 24 or between Feb. 28 and March 3, those who were there from March 4-6 should also self quarantine, the email said. The email said the organist played at a funeral on March 6 and those who attended that service are also being alerted.
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 least three school campuses in the city, a spokesman said. Those campuses were scheduled for deep-cleaning overnight.
City officials want people to isolate at home and monitor themselves for symptoms until two weeks have passed since their last time at the church.
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Cole is hospitalized and in stable condition and the church organist is at home and said to be in “good spirits” with some mild symptoms, according to officials at the church.
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, immunocompromised or otherwise considered at high risk for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
The city’s health department said there is still “no widespread community transmission” of the virus, according to a message from D.C. Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee.
“We are continuing to do everything in our power to keep Loudoun 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.”
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Authorities say people can 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 who develop fever, cough or shortness of breath should consult health-care providers about whether they should be tested.
Several colleges in the D.C. region are temporarily stopping in-person classes to try to stop the fast-spreading virus. In Virginia, Fairfax County Public Schools are preparing to have students do distance learning for the coming weeks.
At least three cases of the virus are connected to Christ Church, a historic Episcopal congregation.
In Virginia, two of the nine cases involve people affiliated with the Defense Department, including one person at Quantico and another in Spotslyvania County. Two couples — one in Virginia Beach and another in Fairfax — tested positive for the virus after going on a Nile River boat cruise, officials said.
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 were when the Rev. Timothy Cole, 59, the church rector who was diagnosed with the virus Saturday, was in the building and may have been infectious. Among other things, Cole attended a March 3 “Legos for Lent” event where small children and adults shared a buffet-style dinner, church spokesman Rob Volmer said.
And another case involves a Loudoun County man in his 40s who tested positive and had attended services at Christ Church in Georgetown, where both the rector and the organist were also diagnosed with the virus. The Loudoun County man is in good condition.
Cole is hospitalized in stable condition. The church organist, Tom Smith, 39, tested positive for the virus Monday. He is in quarantine at his D.C. home “in good spirits,” with mild symptoms, Volmer said. Smith was at Sunday services March 1 and a choral event that evening, Volmer said, but did not attend other large events that week.
Two other people came back from countries where the virus had occurred, officials said. All of the patients in Virginia are having mild versions of the illness and in stable condition, officials said.
The diagnosis of the Loudoun man who attended the church was reported Tuesday.
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At a news conference Wednesday, Northam said steps were being taken in several agencies including schools, transportation and health to make sure the commonwealth is prepared to deal with the virus. He has not yet declared a state of emergency but said he is “prepared to do so.”
Church officials have heard from families making up roughly 200 people who are self-quarantining, Volmer said. In addition to Smith, Volmer said, other church staff members and their immediate families have been tested, with results negative or pending.
In Maryland, a Montgomery County woman who had gone on the Nile River cruise line also contracted the virus, according to Maryland’s Gov. Larry Hogan (R).
Cole first became sick after returning from a Feb. 22 conference of Episcopal leaders in Louisville. D.C. health officials said they were still investigating where he may have contracted the virus. His case raised alarms because unlike most of the other patients in the region, he had not traveled overseas or anywhere that an outbreak has been confirmed.
And in Prince George’s County, three people have the virus, including a couple who were on a cruise and a woman in her 50s who was on a trip to Boston in late February where several people got the virus at a conference. Officials haven’t said if the woman went to the conference.
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-quarantine because they were in contact with Cole. Two seminary officials appeared at a March 3 event at Christ Church.
The three patients in Prince George’s County are self-quarantined at their homes and in good condition, according to authorities.
None of them are showing symptoms of the virus, but officials at the seminary are asking that people who are at higher risk for serious illness stay away from the campus.
Officials in the D.C. region have said those who are sick should stay at home and health experts are reminding people to wash their hands thoroughly and regularly. Those with compromised immune systems are also advised to take precautions. And anyone who develops a fever, cough or shortness of breath is advised to see a doctor and get tested.
D.C. Health Director LaQuandra S. Nesbitt said people who have come into contact with Christ Church attendees who are not showing symptoms of the coronavirus 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 respiratory symptoms themselves.
On Tuesday, Hogan and other officials said they expect that there will be a fast rise in the number of diagnosed cases as the testing expands but they’re trying to contain the virus and minimize the impact locally.
“This notion that if a student who is a contact of an asymptomatic contact of a case attends a particular school that something needs to happen in that school is not scientifically driven,” she said.
In Prince George's County, hundreds of people who worked at or attended the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor in late February have been told to watch for symptoms because a person who was at the event was diagnosed with the virus after going home to New Jersey.
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The federal government, the country's largest employer and the largest employer in the D.C., region have been told to prepare to work remotely full time.
Hogan said he has instructed all nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to limit visitors and bar their workers from international travel, measures he hopes will prevent an outbreak like the one in the Kirkland, Wash., nursing home where over a dozen residents have died.
Fenit Nirappil, Erin Cox and Laura Vozzella contributed to this report.
“We want to do everything in our power to avoid that situation,” Hogan said at the start of a cabinet meeting in Annapolis. “This problem continues to evolve and escalate rapidly.”
Hogan and other officials said they expect a rapid rise in diagnosed cases as testing expands. Like the rest of the nation, Maryland will soon move from trying to contain the virus to mitigating its impact, he said.
In Prince George’s County, officials have told hundreds of people who worked at or attended the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor late last month, including police officers and emergency personnel, to monitor themselves for symptoms. That’s because a person who attended the conference was diagnosed with the virus after he returned home to New Jersey.
Alsobrooks canceled three community forums this week, including a census workshop Wednesday.
All federal courthouses in the Eastern District of Virginia have suspended “non-case related outside events,” including tours and naturalization ceremonies, at least through the end of March.
In Fairfax County, elected officials 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.”
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.
