Sylvia Louise Jenkins was born in D.C. in 1936 and made a mark on the area through her faith, her volunteer work, and her family.
She lived in the District most of her life, but passed away in Arlington the Sunday before last, one of numerous assisted living facility residents in Arlington to succumb to the coronavirus.
For Lisa Ostroff, owner of Trade Roots, asking for help is a delicate thing.
While there are countless other residents and businesses in Arlington that need assistance, Ostroff is in the uncomfortable position of asking locals to consider helping tradespeople and artisans at far-flung parts of the world who lack the support of America’s admittedly porous safety net.
Another day, another few dozen positive coronavirus tests in Arlington.
As of Wednesday, the latest Virginia Dept. of Health data shows 912 known COVID-19 cases in Arlington, along with 163 hospitalizations. That’s up from 865 cases and 157 hospitalizations yesterday.
More Arlingtonians Getting Out of the House — “The District and its suburbs all saw an increase in travel and a 1 percent to 5 percent drop in people staying home by April 17. The biggest drop occurred in Arlington County, where 50 percent of residents stayed home, down from 55 percent the previous Friday.” [Washington Post, @Matt4Arlington/Twitter]
County Launches Homeless Outreach Effort — “Last week, Arlington launched a homeless outreach coalition to help identify unsheltered individuals at high risk for COVID-19 and connect them with available resources and services. The coalition is comprised of stakeholders from the Police Department, Department of Human Services, and Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network (A-SPAN).” [Arlington County]
Another week of social distancing has come and gone, as the days blend together and Arlington residents try to make the most of the reality that we’re not going back to normal anytime soon.
Over the weekend we asked our staff photographer, Jay Westcott, to narrate the past week of observations and reflections from his treks around Arlington.
The growth of new COVID-19 cases in Arlington doesn’t appear to be going down — though it doesn’t seem to be accelerating either.
As of Tuesday morning, there were 865 known coronavirus cases in Arlington and 157 reported hospitalizations. That’s up from 625 cases and 114 hospitalizations a week ago, and from 836 cases and 144 hospitalizations on Monday.
County Board Defends COVID-19 Response — “Arlington leaders continue to push back against accusations they could be doing more to address the COVID-19 crisis within the county’s 26 square miles. A number of civic-activists used the public-comment period of the County Board’s April 25 meeting (held ‘virtually’ after the government received state authority to do so) to rap officials for not imposing more aggressive regulation of daily life.” [InsideNova]
More Contributions for Small Biz Grant Fund — “The Arlington County Industrial Development Authority has joined Arlington Economic Development’s (AED) efforts to help small businesses… [The authority] approved a contribution of $326,000 of its own funding. Together with the $674,000 of funding from the County, and the recently announced contributions of $100,000 each by the Crystal City and Rosslyn Business Improvement Districts, total GRANT program funding has reached $1.2 million.” [Arlington County, Rosslyn BID]
Arlington County is still sending letters threatening to turn off the water service of delinquent utility customers, though it actually stopped the practice last month amid the coronavirus outbreak.
On March 16 the Virginia State Corporation Commission ordered utility providers to stop disconnections of electricity, gas, water and sewer utility services as a result of the public health emergency. The next day Arlington announced that it was suspending water shut offs.
(Updated at 10:25 a.m.) The latest coronavirus data for Arlington seems like more bad news, though there’s at least one sign of possible light at the end of the tunnel.
As of Monday, the Virginia Dept. of Health reported 836 COVID-19 cases in Arlington, along with 32 deaths, 144 hospitalizations and 11 outbreaks. That’s up from 722 known cases, 120 hospitalizations, 24 deaths and 10 outbreaks on Friday.
County Board Candidates So Far — “Announced Arlington County Board special election (to replace Erik Gutshall, who sadly was forced to resign while being treated for brain cancer) Democratic candidates… so far are: Barbara Kanninen; Chanda Choun; Nicole Merlene.” [Blue Virginia]
Arlington Allocates $300k for Emergency Help — “Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz has allocated $300,000 from the FY 2020 budget to meet increased demand for emergency financial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The money will be provided from the FY 2020 budget contingency fund to Arlington Thrive, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance to County residents who experience sudden crisis.” [Arlington County]
There may be initial talks about planning for a limited reopening of the regional economy, but coronavirus cases are still rising in Arlington at a steady clip.
According to the latest Virginia Dept. of Health data, there are now 722 known cases of COVID-19 in Arlington, 120 hospitalizations, 24 deaths and 2,784 test results received. That’s up from 686 cases yesterday (Thursday) and 485 cases a week ago.
There’s growing evidence that the outdoors are, other than one’s home, the safest place to be during the pandemic.
A study in China revealed that the vast majority of outbreaks reviewed were the result of indoor transmission of the coronavirus. Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb discussed the findings on social media and on CNBC Thursday.
