Virginia’s medical community appears to largely support Ralph Northam’s move to possibly reopen the state’s economy next week. The governor is facing criticism from some physicians, but the state’s major medical associations say they believe conditions are in place to safely resume some business.

“I think it’s a good idea,” says Dr. Nancy Tanchel, an eye surgeon in Tysons Corner and the treasurer of the Medical Society of Northern Virginia, which represents about 1,600 physicians.

“There’s certainly more testing available than there was at the beginning of the epidemic,” she says. “People have their masks and they’re willing to stand a few feet, six feet or more apart. And so I think we’re ready to let people get back to work.”

Northam announced Monday that he anticipated easing some restrictions by May 15, allowing hair salons, gyms, restaurants and other nonessential businesses to reopen with social distancing and hygiene measures in place. Last week, Northam announced he would allow elective surgeries to resume; he had barred them for weeks to clear space for more COVID-19 hospital patients.

The governor has faced criticism about from activists for immigrants and African Americans, who say they can’t fathom a broad reopening even as their communities bear the brunt of the pandemic. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay wrote DCist in an email that he has not seen evidence to support reopening on May 15.

But medical associations and many physicians themselves say the state’s health care system and the public are ready.

Julian Walker, a spokesman for the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, says he’s encouraged by hospitals reporting they have enough protective equipment for their staff and thousands of extra hospital beds.

“One of the purposes of stay at home and social distancing was to flatten the curve, to not get to the point where the healthcare capacity was overwhelmed,” Walker tells DCist.

Moreover, he says, the number of hospitalized patients in Virginia is holding fairly steady. “Those are numbers we are tracking and the governor is tracking,” Walker says.

Clark Barrineau, a spokesman for the Medical Society of Virginia, which represents 10,000 doctors, also sounded a note of optimism. In an email to DCist, Barrineau wrote, “If the public continues to take all necessary precautions—wearing masks, washing hands regularly, maintain social distancing, etc—our curve will continue to slow.”

As of Thursday, the Virginia Department of Health reported 21,570 cases of COVID-19 and 769 deaths due to the disease.

Support for reopening is not uniform among health experts. Gary Kreps, a health communications expert at George Mason University, says he’s skeptical about how the reopening decision is being made.

“The infection rate in Virginia is still rising,” he wrote DCist in an email. “I’m surprised that Governor Northam (especially as a physician) is not being guided by epidemiological data trends to make this decision. I fear that premature re-entry will lead unnecessarily to more infections and deaths, while extending the duration of the pandemic.”

Walker of the VHHA counters that residents across the state understand that reopening may lead to a “continued growth in the number of people infected.” Still, he says, “not everyone that contracts this needs inpatient hospital care. Many people are going to be asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and they can shelter in place and self-quarantine and ride it out.”

In Alexandria, doctor Eran Greenberg, too, falls in the more cautious camp.

“As a physician, I don’t see the kind of advancements either in the care of COVID-19 nor in knowledge of its infectivity and its prevention that would really allow businesses to reopen safely,” he says.

Outside analyses also cast doubt on Virginia’s ability to safely reopen.

A study by Harvard’s Global Health Institute and NPR found that Virginia would need to conduct 16,664 tests per day to monitor its population for further outbreaks of the coronavirus. Gov. Northam has set a more modest goal of 10,000 tests a day, and the state has fallen short of that target so far, with nearly 6,300 tests on Tuesday and just 2,300 Wednesday.

“The moment you relax, the number of cases will start climbing. And therefore, the number of tests you need to keep your society, your state from having large outbreaks will also start climbing,” Ashish Jha, director of the Global Health Institute, told NPR.

Northam has said he will monitor the data before reopening. Further, he clarified on Wednesday that areas of the state with more cases, such as Northern Virginia, could set tighter restrictions.

Dr. Bill Hazel, the former state Secretary of Health and Human Resources, observed that discipline was eroding among Virginians.

“From the amount of traffic that has grown over the last few days, I think that people are deciding on their own,” Hazel wrote in an email to DCist. “The opening makes sense in some areas and depends a lot on personal responsibility to take precautions.”

Tanchel says she’s heard from her member doctors that keeping Virginia shuttered presented its own health risk.

“They say sometimes people with heart disease and impending heart attacks, things like that, are afraid to go to the emergency room … Because they’re so afraid of this COVID,” she said. “That’s a bad situation too.”