For the first time since Dec. 15, fewer than 100 new Covid cases were reported in Arlington today.
Ninety new cases were reported today by the Virginia Dept. of Health. That brings the seven-day moving average down to 184 cases per day, the lowest point since Dec. 20.
Adding to the trend, the average test positivity rate in Arlington is now down to 13.1%, the lowest point since two days before Christmas. In terms of serious illness, about one Arlington resident is being hospitalized each day due to Covid, according to VDH, the lowest point since Dec. 27.
Despite the numbers trending down, case counts are still relatively high.
“The total number of COVID patients we’re diagnosing in a week now is about 3 times higher than our Delta peak and is about the peak of where we were during last winter’s surge,” wrote Virginia Hospital Center ER chief Mike Silverman in his weekly public Facebook post. “While the numbers are better than a month ago, I suspect we still have 4-6 weeks until we start to get back to low tide. Our overall percent positive has dropped from about 40% to 18% which is just a touch below last winter’s surge but twice as high as the Delta surge.”
The hospital remains busy with its treatment of Covid patients, Silverman wrote.
“The number of COVID patients hospitalized is also down about 20% from last week, yet still double the number we had just prior to Christmas,” he wrote. “Our hospitalist team is still so busy they’re requiring staffing with an extra physician.”