Kaine trip highlights COVID-19 impacts on 'the heart of the American economy'

Unlike his weekend trip to the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Sen. Tim Kaine’s trip through Suffolk and Franklin Monday wasn’t for the birds.

It was a coincidence, he said, that he and his wife, Anne Holton, were in Suffolk last Friday having dinner at The Mod Olive and then spending Saturday birding, hiking and canoeing in the Great Dismal Swamp.

But it was no coincidence that Kaine spent the day visiting with the Nansemond Indian Nation and Suffolk and Franklin business owners. The senator is making his way east to west roughly along U.S. Route 58 to learn about the impact of COVID-19 on business owners, tribes and other officials, and the challenges they have, and continue, to face.

At Mattanock Town, Chief Earl Bass said the tribe has been hard-hit by COVID-19, which he estimated has impacted about 20% of its 407 people, including several who have died of the virus. While Bass said it has vaccinated 96 people, more need it.

Read more: https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/2021/04/06/kaine-trip-highlights-covid-19-impacts-on-the-heart-of-the-american-economy/