Cafeteria Crew up to the Challenge Phase I of Easing Restrictions
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me Limited Time Limited Ti Online Subscriptions $9 a year www.gazettejournal.net GLOUCESTER-MATHEWS THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2020 VOL. LXXXIII, no. 20 NEW SERIES (USPS 220-560) GLOUCESTER, VA. 23061 | MATHEWS, VA. 23109 two sections 30 pages 75 CENTS Phase I of easing restrictions begins Friday in Virginia New guidelines for dealing Under Northam’s “For- ited to 50 percent occupancy, with the coronavirus pan- ward Virginia” plan to while restaurants and bever- demic were rolled out by gradually ease public re- age establishments will be Gov. Ralph Northam during strictions while contain- able to offer outdoor dining a Friday press briefing. The ing the spread of COVID- at 50 percent occupancy. governor said he is shifting 19, businesses throughout Personal grooming ser- from a “Stay at Home” policy Virginia will be able to open vices may begin to operate to a “Safer at Home” policy, this Friday, except in certain once again on Friday, with as outlined in Executive Or- Northern Virginia localities. der Sixty-One. Retail businesses will be lim- SEE EASING RESTRICTIONS, PAGE 8A James: Everybody’s not in same boat BY SHERRY HAMILTON ery Commission. are barely staying alive with James said that one of the a life jacket.” SHERRY HAMILTON / GAZETTE-JOURNAL Kay Coles James, found- interesting things about the Those different circum- Mathews County Schools’ Cafeteria Manager Nelda Gibbs, center, prepares meals for children who aren’t in school because of er and board chair of The pandemic is that the impact stances can affect how peo- the COVID-19 pandemic Assisting her are Jackie Bristow, left, and Rhonda Pugh Gloucester Institute and it’s having on communities is ple are feeling the effect of president of The Heritage broad, so people have to stop the virus, she said. A person Foundation, spoke with the thinking that everyone is in in a small locality that has Gazette-Journal recently the same boat. seen minimal impact can eas- about the COVID-19 policies “We’re not,” she said. ily believe the pandemic isn’t Cafeteria crew up to the challenge she is working on in her new “We’re all in the same storm, so bad, or might even be a BY SHERRY HAMILTON position as chairman of the but some are in yachts, some like it was bigger than me. I pre-packaged, individually- National Coronavirus Recov- are in rowboats, and some SEE KAY COLE JAMES, PAGE 16A Feeding students who aren’t worked through 9-11, Isabel, wrapped turkey and cheese in school has been a challenge and lots of storms, but none croissants, chips, fresh apple for Mathews County Public compared to COVID-19. None slices, animal crackers and Schools, but division Cafete- have been bigger than this.” fruit snacks. ria Manager Nelda Gibbs and Like all good teams, Gibbs Two days a week, students COVID-19 cases rise slightly her team are proving to be up and her people figured out receive a hot sandwich for to the job. how to proceed, and on a lunch, and the other items Using a combination of site recent Thursday morning, change, as well, with different in Gloucester, Mathews pick-up for students who can the operation was running sandwich meats and perhaps make it to school and home like clockwork. While staff in fresh vegetables and ranch BY SHERRY HAMILTON The Three Rivers Health counties saw a jump in cas- delivery for those who can’t, the kitchen at Mathews High dressing. Breakfast could in- District, which covers the es over the past week, with Gibbs and a gang of employ- School were preparing a hot clude a bacon, egg and cheese The number of COVID-19 Middle Peninsula and North- Richmond going from 30 last ees and volunteers are pro- lunch for senior citizens re- or sausage biscuit. Milk is a cases in Gloucester rose ern Neck, saw an increase of week to 42 this week, with six viding 275 students with two ceiving Meals on Wheels— part of every meal. slightly over an eight-day 96 new cases, from 254 last patients hospitalized, while meals a day Monday through which the school system Every Friday, in addition to period from last Tuesday, at Tuesday to 350 this Wednes- Essex went from 18 cases last Thursday, while 375 students provides on a contract basis the two meals provided the 26, to this Wednesday, at 28. day. Fifty-seven of the new week to 29 cases this week, receive them on Fridays. The for Bay Aging—Gibbs and rest of the week, the team Mathews saw the addition of cases occurred in Richmond with three patients hospital- operation is flowing smoothly other cafeteria workers were packs an extra bag of food for one case, bringing the coun- County, largely accounted ized. these days, but Gibbs said in the cafeteria filling individ- the weekend, said Gibbs. This ty’s total from four to five. for by an increase in cases Middlesex County added that wasn’t always the case. ual bags with a breakfast of might include an individual Seven Gloucester residents at Haynesville Correctional three cases over the week, “The first three weeks I had mini pancakes, syrup, a box pack of microwaveable maca- and one Mathews resident Center. Seven of those cases from seven last Tuesday to never been so overwhelmed of cereal fruit and milk. For have been hospitalized with resulted in hospitalization. in my life,” said Gibbs. “I felt lunch, bags were packed with SEE MATHEWS CAFETERIA, PAGE 8A the illness. Both Richmond and Essex SEE COVID CASES, PAGE 13A When yellow fever ravaged Norfolk and Portsmouth, Mathews was escape hatch BY ELSA VERBYLA ery; people dropping dead on the street; desperate mea- Long ago but not far away, sures taken unsuccessfully two Virginia cities—Norfolk to stop the spread; the loss and Portsmouth—suffered of his wife and four children through an epidemic of yel- to the disease, and of much low fever. more. In the summer of 1855, be- He told how many other fore the source of transmis- communities had shut their sion was known, city people doors to Norfolk residents, had few choices to escape fearing introduction of the infection other than to leave. fever to their own towns: “al- One of the escape places most every mail has brought was Mathews County, accord- us the information that one ing to the Rev. George D. Arm- place after another … has strong, a Presbyterian clergy- shut us out. The counties on man in Norfolk. He was author the Eastern Shore of Virginia of the 1856 work, “The Sum- and Matthews (sic) county, to KIM ROBINS / GAZETTE-JOURNAL mer of Pestilence. A History of which a boat runs tri-weekly Ravages of the Yellow Fever in from our city, are an excep- Norfolk, Virginia, A.D. 1855.” tion to the general rule,” Teacher of Year parade Armstrong chronicled the Armstrong wrote. “They, in- A surprise drive-by parade honoring Gloucester County Public Schools Teacher of the Year Brian Teucke was held last Wednesday at Page Middle School Teucke daily advance of the fever stead of adopting quarantine from poor waterfront sections regulations, shutting us out, was also the Page Teacher of the Year and the school division’s Middle School Teacher of the Year Above at left, Teucke and his wife, Ashley, posed with a sign that into affluent neighborhoods; was handed to Teucke during the parade and a tree that was given to him In photo at right, joining the couple, at left, for the parade were Page principal Patricia his own suffering and recov- SEE YELLOW FEVER, PAGE 13A McMahon and Page teacher Rusty West INSIDE THIS WEEK TO REACH US: Phone: 804-693-3101 Gloucester 2A Obituaries 9A-10A Church News 3B-4B Bursting with spring Mathews 3A Schools 11A-12A Days Past 6B Thanks to reader contributions, pictures of blooming flowers continue to Fax: 804-693-7844 Gloucester Point 4A Variety 12A Business 7B fill page 1B of this week’s pages Additionally, page 17A has another set of Editorial 5A Sports 14A-15A Public Record 8B reader contributions, with photos of birds in flight On the web Arts 7A Community News 1B Classifieds 9B-12B www.gazettejournal.net *The Wells Fargo Home Projects credit card is issued by Wells Fargo Bank N.A., an Equal Housing Lender. 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