Skip to content
The COVID Project
  1. Library
  2. Standing duties: Virginia
  3. DUT-VA-014

Ex. DUT-VA-014 Standing duty Primary source read

Forward Virginia (Safer at Home: Phase One), Guidelines for All Business Sectors and sector-specific guidelines (restaurants and beverage services, farmers markets, brick-and-mortar retail, fitness and exercise facilities, personal care and grooming, campgrounds, and others)

Safer at Home: Phase One, Guidelines for All Business Sectors (Virginia Forward Phase One Business Sector Guidelines)

Governor Ralph S. Northam (Office of the Governor), with the Virginia Department of Health · Virginia (State)

The COVID Project

The record

Jurisdiction
Virginia
Level
State
Authority
Office of the Governor, Forward Virginia Phase One Business Sector Guidelines (May 8, 2020), incorporated by reference in Exec. Order 61 (2020)
Issued
2020-05-08 May 8, 2020
Effective
2020-05-15 (with EO 61; Northern Virginia, Richmond and Accomack from May 29, 2020) (read as 2020-05-15)
End
Superseded by the Phase Two guidelines with EO 65 (June 5, 2020) and the Phase Three guidelines with EO 67 (July 1, 2020) (Ex. DUT-VA-015) (read as 2020-06-05)
In force
May 15, 2020 to June 5, 2020
Quarters
2020 Q2
Limitation types
Capacity limitGathering capFace-covering requirementWorkplace rulesOperating condition
Addressees
  • specified businesses (restaurants and beverage services, farmers markets, non-essential brick-and-mortar retail, fitness and exercise facilities, personal care and grooming, campgrounds, racetracks); employers generally through the all-sector guidelines
Character
guidance incorporated
Collection
Standing duties: Virginia DUT-VA

Operative words

Establishments must either implement the following mandatory requirements or close. Mandatory Requirements: Businesses must strictly adhere to the physical distancing guidelines, enhanced cleaning and disinfection practices, and enhanced workplace safety practices provided in the 'Guidelines for All Business Sectors' document.

Penalty

Through EO 61/PHE Three: willful violation a Class 1 misdemeanor under section 32.1-27; injunction; enforcement by VDH and 'any agency with regulatory authority over a business' (Ex. VA-010); the guidelines' own sanction is closure ('or close')

What it required

Two registers, recorded as the text has them. The 'Guidelines for All Business Sectors' are captioned 'Best Practices' and speak in 'should' and 'encourage' ('Encourage telework whenever possible'; 'employers should screen employees prior to starting work'; 'Where possible, employees and customers should utilize face coverings'). Each sector section then converts the whole into a condition of operating: 'Establishments must either implement the following mandatory requirements or close,' and the first mandatory requirement is that 'Businesses must strictly adhere to' the all-sector physical distancing, cleaning and workplace safety practices, followed by sector rules in 'must' (50 percent occupancy; six feet between parties; employees in customer areas 'are required to wear face coverings'; bar seating 'must be closed'; tabletops 'must be disinfected between patrons'). EO 61 made operation of each sector conditional on compliance with these guidelines 'expressly incorporated by reference herein' (Ex. VA-010).

Retrieval note

Retrieved as the Wayback Machine's raw capture of May 9, 2020. The document is the 'Guidelines for All Business Sectors' that EO 61 section A repeatedly incorporates ('provided such businesses comply with the Guidelines for All Business Sectors and the sector-specific guidance... expressly incorporated by reference herein'); EO 61's enforcement paragraph states 'Guidelines for All Business Sectors and the sector-specific guidelines appear here' with the link. The mandatory or recommended character of each sentence is exactly as recorded: 'Best Practices' sections recommend; 'Mandatory Requirements' sections command, and the order's 'provided... comply' clause made compliance the condition of lawful operation.