Anecdotally, at least, fewer people seem to be wearing masks out in public in Arlington.
While some remain cautious — or, perhaps, they are not yet fully vaccinated and are following health guidelines — locals seem increasingly comfortable patronizing local businesses sans mask.
And the lack of masks doesn’t appear to be noticeably impacting Arlington’s Covid infection rate, which fell as vaccinations ramped up in the spring.
As of this morning, Arlington’s test positivity rate was still a mere 0.6%, and the rate of net new cases over the past two weeks is less than one per day.
Only one new Covid-related hospitalization has been reported over the past two weeks. Total coronavirus cases in Arlington, net of suspected cases that later tested negative being removed from the Virginia Dept. of Health data, has ticked up by only four since the start of the month.
The county’s total case count currently stands at 15,296.
Vaccinations, meanwhile, have slowed, but Virginia celebrated a significant milestone earlier this week, with 70% of adults having received at least one vaccine dose.
We did it, Virginia! 70% of adults have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine—and two weeks ahead of @POTUS' nationwide goal.
Grateful to the millions of Virginians who rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated. Let's all keep working to #VaccinateVirginia! pic.twitter.com/M4J8C3nYEK
— Governor Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) June 21, 2021
Arlington is working on creative ways to encourage more vaccinations, including having shots available at local events and distributing coasters with QR codes to local bars.
As of today, 60.0% of adults in the county are fully vaccinated, excluding those who received vaccinations from the military or federal government agencies.