(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) After a brief pause in its upward trajectory, the seven-day average of new coronavirus cases in Arlington is continuing to surge.
In what might be called a third wave of the virus — after the initial explosion of cases in the spring and a more modest summer wave that peaked in August — the seven-day infection average in the county crossed the 40 cases-per-day mark today.
There have been 282 new cases over the past week, or 40.3 per day, the highest point in Arlington since May 30. On Sunday the cumulative number of cases in Arlington crossed the 5,000 mark and, as of today, stands at 5,060.
Meanwhile, as of Sunday, “the number of new COVID-19 cases in Northern Virginia has topped 400 for three successive days, a rate not seen since late May,” according to InsideNova. Statewide, Virginia’s seven-day daily case average reached 1,437 today, a fresh record.
There is some good news, however. For one, newly-released vaccine trial data shows highly promising results, renewing hopes for an end to the pandemic in 2021 while sending the stock market soaring.
BREAKING: Pfizer, BioNTech say late-stage trial data shows Covid vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing infection https://t.co/XLAFDi3C1i
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) November 9, 2020
In Arlington, the surge of new cases has not yet resulted in a corresponding surge in hospitalizations. The Virginia Dept. of Health has only reported six new hospitalizations here over the past week. One new COVID-related death — the first since Oct. 24 — was reported over the weekend.
At the same time, demographically the growth in new cases has continued to be skewed toward younger people, who are less likely to get seriously ill with coronavirus complication than those who are older.
In the past roughly three months, more than ten times as many people in the 20-29 age range have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Arlington as compared to those in the 70-79 range.
In terms of hospitalizations, the national picture is more concerning.
“In an unprecedented weekend of Covid-19 infections, nearly all of the US is seeing cases rise as the national total teeters near 10 million,” CNN reported today. “There were 105,927 new coronavirus cases reported on Sunday, marking the 5th day in a row that cases topped 100,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.”
“The Covid Tracking Project said the US could see a record number of hospitalizations in just a few days,” the article adds.
Twenty-three U.S. states set single-day coronavirus case records last week, Axios reported.