President Donald Trump on Thursday declared that a major disaster exists in Virginia and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic beginning on Jan. 20, 2020, and continuing.
Federal funding is available to state, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, for all areas in Virginia impacted by the coronavirus, according to the White House.
FEMA officials said public Assistance federal funding is available to the state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures (Category B), including direct federal assistance under Public Assistance, for all areas in the Commonwealth of Virginia affected by the coronavirus at a federal cost share of 75 percent.
Pete Gaynor, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency named MaryAnn Tierney as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas.
Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further assessments, the White House said.
As of Thursday, Virginia has 1,706 positive cases and 41 deaths.
James City County has 97 cases of the coronavirus, Newport News has a 33, York County has 17, Hampton has 16, Williamsburg has 9 and Poquoson has 3, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s website.
Eight of those deaths were from the Peninsula Health District, which covers Newport News, Poquoson, Williamsburg, James City County and York County.