A software update has created issues for Windows-based computers across the world, including at the local and state levels in Virginia.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued a statement this morning that said government systems were affected, but some important safety functions were functioning properly.
“Amidst the global tech outages, overnight we have conducted an initial assessment to determine impacts across government agencies and departments for functionality,” the governor said. “Critical health and safety systems, including 911 call systems and transportation infrastructure, are operational. However, airlines continue to experience significant disruptions.”
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles was among state agencies with problems — but as of 3:30 p.m. Friday, online transactions were functional again, and all DMV locations had reopened.
Richmond International Airport also experienced issues connected to the outage — with about 1 in 5 flights affected as of Friday morning, according to spokesperson Troy Bell.
“It has impacted the operations for some of our airlines,” Bell said. “Today, we have 150 flights scheduled, and we've seen 12 flights canceled and about 23 delays.”
The share of delayed or canceled flights had risen to nearly 30% by midday, according to a social media post from the airport.
Hospitals connected to Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia also were affected by the outage. At VCU Health, some elective care procedures were postponed, said Danielle Pierce, the health system’s director of public relations. No patients receiving critical care saw a disruption in services, Pierce said.
At UVA Health, ambulatory clinics and outpatient radiology and imaging were closed Friday — with the exception of the cancer center. According to a post on X, the health system suggested that patients call ahead or visit its online status board.
Aaron Ruby, a spokesperson for Dominion Energy, posted on social media that the utility’s service call centers weren’t operational due to the outage. Ruby wrote that customers were able to use Dominion’s website and mobile app for regular transactions.
Dominion’s service call centers came back online a little before 2 p.m.
In a Friday statement, CrowdStrike — the company whose software update caused the outage — said that “[t]he issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.” Shares of the company were down more than 11% on the New York Stock Exchange as of 3:40 p.m.
