Another week, another high point for Covid cases in Arlington since the winter peak reached earlier this year.
The trailing seven-day average of new daily cases in Arlington is now 48, an increase of nearly 50% since the start of the month. Thirty-two new cases were reported this morning by the Virginia Dept. of Health, bringing the local pandemic case total to 17,207.
After a pre-Labor Day dip, Covid case counts in Arlington are again heading upward.
As of this morning the county is seeing just over 44 cases per day, based on a seven-day moving average. That’s the highest point since mid-February.
Arlington County is launching an awards program that aims to publicly recognize locals who stepped up to the plate to help their neighbors through the COVID-19.
Nominations for the “Community COVID-19 Hero Awards” are currently open online or in-person at any library.
(Updated 9:25 a.m. on 9/8/21) The new virtual learning program in Arlington Public Schools, available to anyone uncomfortable with going to school in-person, has gotten off to a rocky start due to severe teacher shortages.
During the first week of school, 340 of the more than 700 students enrolled in the program were assigned subs rather than permanent teachers, and many did not receive class schedules. Instead, many virtual students saw their classes canceled or they were shuffled into multi-grade classes and “virtual waiting rooms” without teachers or monitors.
(Updated at 1:25 p.m.) The start of the extended Labor Day weekend is a day away and there’s a bit of good news beyond the nice weather: there’s been a slight dip in coronavirus cases.
After a mid-August plateau, the seven-day moving average of new cases in Arlington started moving upward again, peaking at 41 cases per day this past Saturday, Aug. 28. That’s now down to about 32 cases per day, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data.
After its future briefly dangled over a precipice, Eagle Cleaners in Williamsburg will be sticking around.
Last week ARLnow reported that manager of the dry cleaning business, Mathew Srebrow, was given one week to either buy the business for $250,000 or shut it down. He said the directive came from the trustee who controls the ownership interest in Eagle Cleaners and had plans to sell it.
Local Real Estate Market Slowing — “When it comes to housing prices and sales, red-hot Arlington County cooled a bit last month compared to last summer — a modest slowdown that the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors says was typical throughout the region. NVAR reports the median price of a home that sold in Arlington County last month was 9% lower than a year ago, and the average number of days on the market, or how long it took to sell a home, was up 35% compared to last July.” [WTOP]
County Board Still Opposes Gondola — “This week, all five members of the Arlington County Board confirmed to the Washington Business Journal their position hasn’t changed. Even the two new Democrats to join the board since it penned that 2017 letter — current Chair Matt de Ferranti and Takis Karantonis — said in interviews that they remain unconvinced, despite the proponents’ recent success in pushing the District to budget $10 million toward the purchase of a potential D.C. landing site near the Key Bridge.” [Washington Business Journal]
For the first time since March 2020, most Arlington Public Schools students will be in their classrooms for five days of in-person learning, starting Monday.
Some students will continue at a distance, but overall, the school system says it is focused on three areas this year: accelerated learning, health and safety, and social-emotional learning, according to last night (Thursday’s) School Board meeting.
Arlington might not be as hard-hit as places with lower vaccination rates, but the delta variant of the coronavirus is still infecting dozens of people a day in the county.
The latest data from the Virginia Dept. of Health shows the seven-day trailing average of new infections in Arlington ticking up from 32 to 36 cases per day since Tuesday.
Update on 8/31/21 — The business is staying open.
Earlier: After operating for 25 years and weathering the worst of the pandemic, Eagle Cleaners in Williamsburg is on the brink of closing.
Kitten Rescued from Van — ” Caroline Elpers, a deputy animal control officer with Arlington County, responded to a call from a woman on Aug. 15. The woman said she was walking her dog and she’d heard the mewing of a cat coming from the inside of a van parked on the street. ‘Initially, the call stated that the cat was in the van,’ Elpers said, who arrived on the scene around 10 a.m. ‘Once I got there, it was apparent that the cat was underneath the van, running under and into the engine.'” [Patch]
Pandemic Doesn’t Stop Tax Collection — “Over the past year, staff of the Arlington treasurer’s office has been tasked with collecting $997 million in taxes due on real estate and personal property (both vehicles and business property). To date, more than $995 million of it is in hand. Treasurer Carla de la Pava on Aug. 16 confirmed to the Sun Gazette that the county’s tax-delinquency rate for the past year stood at 0.18 percent, a near-record.” [Sun Gazette]
(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) Arlington’s average rate of new daily Covid cases has plateaued over the past two weeks.
The seven-day moving average currently stands at about 32-33 daily cases. It’s remained around that level, give or take two cases per day, since Aug. 9. The plateau followed a month-long rise in cases since the beginning of July, fueled by the more contagious Delta variant.
