GREAT HOOPS SEASONS END: The Potomac boys and Colgan girls fell in the state quarters. Page-13-14
March 11, 2020 | Vol. 19, No. 11 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Quantico Marine is state’s first coronavirus case Region braces as cases climb to 5 across Northern Va. By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Virginia’s first known case of the novel coronavirus appeared in the Prince William County over the weekend when a U.S. Marine who had recently visited Ethiopia tested positive on Saturday for COVID-19, military officials said. The Marine, who has not been identified, lived and worked mostly on the Marine Corps Base Quantico. He was hospitalized over the weekend at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, where he was in isolation but said to be improving, hospital officials said Sunday. The Marine was the commonwealth’s first “presumptive positive” case, meaning his test result was awaiting confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control. The diagnosis was quickly followed by four more cases, all in Northern Virginia, which were announced Monday.
The Marine who was diagnosed with COVID-19 was treated at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. The others included a City of Fairfax couple who had recently taken a cruise on the Nile River. The husband, who is in his 80s, was tested on Thursday, March 5, and his diagnosis announced Sunday, March 8. The man’s wife went into self-quarantine at home on Thursday but was hospitalized and tested Monday after developing “minor respiratory
Reach for the sky
illness symptoms,” the health department said in a news release late Monday night. The state’s remaining two cases, as of Tuesday, involved an Arlington resident in their 60s, who had also recently traveled outside the U.S., as well as a Spotsylvania man in his 50s, the health department said. The Spotsylvania patient developed fever, cough and shortness of breath and subsequently sought medical attention. His case was brought to the attention of the Rappahannock Area Health District, and testing for the novel coronavirus was done by the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services in Richmond, the health department said. The positive test result came back on Monday afternoon. The patient is currently under medical care and is stable according to the physician providing care, the health department said. The announcement did not say how the Spotsylvania resident was thought to have contracted the virus. See CORONAVIRUS, page 2
New law eliminates school disorderly conduct charge
Prince William tops the state in students charged By Daniel Berti
Times Staff Writer
COURTESY PHOTO
Pam Northam, wife of Gov. Ralph Northam, visited a preschool class at Marumsco Hills Elementary in Woodbridge Friday, March 7. Virginia’s first lady read “When Spring Comes” to the students and had them pretending to be spring seedlings reaching for the spring sun. The governor’s budget pledged more than $95 million in new funds toward the Virginia Preschool Initiative, which will help Prince William County add a planned 20 new preschool classrooms next school year.
INSIDE Classified............................................22 Lifestyle..............................................15 Obituaries...........................................21
Prince William County had the largest number of students charged for school-based disorderly conduct from 2016 to 2018, according to a state report. But a bill approved by the Virginia General Assembly this year will likely change how student misbehavior is handled in schools. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-9th, prevents students from being charged with disorderly conduct if they misbehave at school or on the school bus. Disorderly conduct is a Class I misdemeanor under Virginia law, punishable with up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Virginia law currently contains a separate disorderly conduct charge that applies specifically to students who disrupt school or school-sponsored activities. McClellan’s bill effectively removes that charge from the state code in an effort to stem the flow of students from Virginia’s public schools to the state’s criminal justice system. The bill now heads to Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk for final approval. See CONDUCT, page 2 Opinion.................................................6 Puzzle Page..........................................7 Real Estate..........................................20 Sports.................................................13
School-based Disorderly Conduct Charges in Prince William County Schools by race* 125
125 100 75
70 56
50 25 0 FY 2017 Black White
FY 2018
FY 2019
Other/Unknown
* Includes only juvenile charges of disorderly conduct resulting from school-based incidents. Source: Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice
88 DULLES, VA