(Updated 5/18) Large portions of the state partially reopened today, but not Northern Virginia.
As the region moves closer to a potential reopening after Memorial Day, however, Arlington officials say residents should expect things to move slowly, and a bit unevenly.
New data from the Virginia Dept. of Health suggests there is not nearly enough coronavirus testing being done in Arlington.
The state health department has added testing data, sortable by locality, to its COVID-19 information page. The data for Arlington shows that there are currently only around 150 virus tests being performed and reported per day, and an average positivity rate just above 25%.
The Arlington County Police Department is expanding its online reporting system, to allow more police reports to be filed online during the era of social distancing.
ACPD says members of the public can now file reports of minor property damage crashes online, instead of needing to do so in person. The online reporting system has also now been translated into Spanish, the police department says.
(Updated at 10:30 a.m.) The total reported coronavirus cases in Arlington are now one shy of 1,500, while statewide data shows a mixed picture one day ahead of a partial reopening of the Commonwealth.
The latest Virginia Dept. of Health data shows 1,499 cases, 305 hospitalizations and 70 deaths in the county. That’s a one-day increase of 39 cases, 5 hospitalizations and 1 death.
A new walk-up coronavirus testing site opened Tuesday along Columbia Pike.
The testing center is a partnership of Arlington County, Virginia Hospital Center and Arlington Free Clinic. At a media briefing yesterday, officials from all three spoke about the importance of the facility in the fight against the virus.
(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) Arlington and other Northern Virginia locales will be allowed to delay reopening until May 28, after Memorial Day, following a new executive order from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
The announcement follows pushback from local officials concerned that a potential reopening this Friday would be too soon. Arlington and neighboring localities have seen higher rates of coronavirus cases than less populous parts of the state, with 72% of new cases reported over the past 24 hours coming from the Northern Virginia region.
In an online town hall meeting on Friday, County Board members decried the plan to partially reopen Virginia as premature for Arlington and discussed further restrictions, like a requirement to wear a mask when in public.
“If we consider the closing of bars and restaurants, if just one locality were to loosen restrictions and allow bars to reopen before other jurisdictions,” County Board member Christian Dorsey warned, “those establishments would become magnets for patrons who could access them, which is very easy with our limited regional geography and great connectivity in the transportation network. This could result in spread across many jurisdictions and make it more difficult for public health officials to do the necessary testing and tracing to control outbreaks.”
Arlington County is planning to open a walk-up COVID-19 testing site tomorrow at the Arlington Mill Community Center (909 S. Dinwiddie Street).
The sample collection site is part of a partnership between Arlington County, the Arlington Free Clinic and the Virginia Hospital Center. The center is scheduled to open tomorrow (Tuesday) and will be open every weekday between 1-5 p.m.
Arlington County has seen a slight, week-long slowdown in new coronavirus cases, but is pushing back on Gov. Ralph Northam’s plan to partially reopen statewide by the end of the week.
As of Monday morning, there were 1,399 known coronavirus cases in Arlington, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. That brings the trailing 7-day rise in cases to 293, down from a peak of 349 on May 4.
The following was written by Brooke Oberwetter, Amazon’s head of external affairs in Arlington, and Jeff King, Clark Construction’s Project Executive for Metropolitan Park Phases 6/7/8
Residents of Arlington near our HQ2 construction site may be feeling some disruption right now as we move forward with developing Amazon’s second headquarters in National Landing.
The highest relative proportion of coronavirus cases in Arlington is along the Columbia Pike corridor, new data shows.
As of Friday morning, there were 1,281 known COVID-19 cases in Arlington, with 227 hospitalizations and 57 deaths. That’s an increase of 277 cases, 58 hospitalizations and 15 deaths compared to one week prior, and continues a slowing of new cases over the past few days.
(Updated at 11:15 a.m.) Arlington County has grown its public health workforce more than 10x since January amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“At the start of this emergency in January, we had approximately 15 members in Public Health leading response efforts,” Arlington Public Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese tells ARLnow. “We have since expanded to more than 250, including many resources from other parts of the Department of Human Services, temporary reassignments from other County departments and community volunteers.”
