Prince William Times 11/25/2020

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BRENTSVILLE GIRLS GOLFER SIGNS WITH WILLIAM & MARY: Sports, Page 13

November 25, 2020 | Vol. 19, No. 48 | 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.

See PrinceWilliamTimes.com for coronavirus updates

Despite ‘highest risk’ COVID metrics, school board sticks to return-to-school plan By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

Despite having the highest COVID-19 school metrics in the region, Prince William County schools has no plans yet to change its schedule for allowing more students to return for in-person learning after Thanksgiving. During a Nov. 18 school board meeting, Superintendent Steven Walts and other senior school di-

vision staff said Prince William County schools will not tie decisions regarding in-person learning to any specific pandemic parameters, as school divisions in Fairfax and Loudoun counties have in recent days. Instead, Prince William schools will consider the county’s overall pandemic metrics – with a particular eye toward clusters or outbreaks in schools, regional hospitalizations

and death rates – in deciding when or if to halt in-person learning, Denise Huebner, associate superintendent for special education and student services, told school board members. Further, decisions about in-person learning could vary from school-toschool, or even by grade level or classroom, in response to an outbreak, Huebner said. See RETURN, page 2

County sees rush on free COVID tests

County vows CARES Act money will get spent

As sites reach capacity, county says it can’t add more free tests

By Daniel Berti

Times Staff Writer

utes after opening, said Prince William County Assistant Fire Chief Matt Smolsky, who oversees the county’s free testing effort. Smolsky attributed the high demand for testing to increased awareness about rising COVID-19 cases across Virginia and the U.S.

Prince William County has so far spent just more than half of the $82 million it received in federal and state COVID-19 relief funds it received last spring. But officials say the full amount will be depleted by the Dec. 30 deadline, in part by using some of the money to pay police, fire and public health salaries, which is allowed under federal guidelines. The county received its slice of the $3 billion in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding allocated to Virginia in May and July to help buffer the economic impacts of the coronavirus. The pandemic has resulted in historic levels of unemployment and businesses closures across the country. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors allocated its CARES Act funds to help those impacted locally by the pandemic. Those efforts included providing

See TESTING, page 4

See CARES, page 4

By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

PHOTO BY DELIA ENGSTROM

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Opinion........................7 Puzzle Page.................6 Real Estate.................14 Sports........................13

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INSIDE Classifieds..................16 Library Page................8 Lifestyle.....................11 Obituaries..................15

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A nurse reaches into a car to administer a COVID-19 test at Woodbridge Senior Center, one of several sites where Prince William County officials are offering free drive-thru COVID-19 tests.

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As Prince William County’s COVID-19 cases rise, so too has the demand for free tests. But at least for now, the county is unable to boost the number of free tests it can offer residents because of a lack of lab capacity, according to county officials. Through a partnership with Sentara and about $5 million in federal and state coronavirus relief funds, the county has been offering free tests on a set weekly schedule since mid-July. The county has the ability to administer 200 tests a day. But that likely won’t increase despite the rising demand because of an inability to process more tests, said County Executive Chris Martino. “We have sufficient money in testing already, so funding hasn’t been the problem for the testing. It is really the capacity,” Martino told the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. “If we could buy more, we would.” Prince William officials have had to shut down the county’s free COVID-19 testing sites every day since Friday, Nov. 13, because they’ve reached capacity. In some instances, testing sites were closed just 30 min-

“The decision to return is not ever decided on one, two or three metrics alone,” said School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef.

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SHOP LOCAL Check out these local businesses for your holiday shopping!

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