House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert issued the following statement:

“When Governor Northam laid out the criteria for reopening Virginia’s economy, he said the process would be led by science, data, and testing. Yet after two additional weeks of falling case numbers and a continual drop in the percentage positive of tests, Governor Northam called an audible yesterday and said Phase 3 could not begin this week.

“Let us be clear, the Governor is once again walking back his own criteria. Tens of thousands of Virginians have lost their jobs, and unemployment spiked to 10 percent. If Governor Northam genuinely wants ‘science, data, and testing’ to drive our reopening, he should allow Phase 3 to proceed.”