Editorial: Time to ease up on Hampton Roads?
It’s been a lost summer for Hampton Roads’ hotels, restaurants and countless other businesses throttled by the restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus throughout the region.
But with the number of cases down sharply and the all-important seven-day average for the region now lower than the state, Gov. Ralph Northam should loosen the severe limitations imposed on Hampton Roads.
That won’t save some businesses from ruin, but it will give more of them a fighting chance to survive the winter and focus on next year when, hopefully, a more promising climate for travel and tourism awaits.
More than a month has passed with the governor imposed tougher restrictions on Hampton Roads in order to arrest an alarming increase in the number of coronvirus cases here. At the time, the eastern region of Virginia was far and away the leading driver of COVID-19 activity in the state.
