(Updated at 10:55 a.m.) There are now just under 400 known coronavirus cases in Arlington.
The number of cases continued to rise over the weekend, with Saturday seeing Arlington’s steepest increase in cases — 37 — so far during the pandemic. The past two days have seen more modest increases.
More than 1,000 people have been tested for coronavirus at the joint Arlington County/Virginia Hospital Center drive-through site near Washington-Liberty High School.
The county said the site, which opened on March 18, is now testing up to 100 people per day. Its hours were recently expanded and the testing opened up to those who don’t live in Arlington or work for the county. Test results, meanwhile, are now available earlier, according to an Arlington County press release.
There’s a global-pandemic-slash-economic-crisis going on, but you know what apparently isn’t affected? Towing.
Just like death and taxes, being towed is inevitable if you park without a permit in a private lot patrolled by a towing company. Even now.
Another 26 coronavirus cases were reported overnight in Arlington, bringing the total known cases in the county to 280.
That’s the third-highest rise in total cases, with the two steeper increases both occurring within the past five days. The overall case count is more than double that of seven days ago, when 128 cases were reported.
Arlington officials are reminding residents that it’s okay to go outside during the pandemic — as long as they maintain social distancing and stay out of closed facilities.
With the weather turning warmer, the Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation yesterday posted a reminder to Twitter about the closures and the need to maintain a 6-foot distance from others, including on increasingly crowded local trails. It has also been posting signs about social distancing around local parks.
We are all feeling the effects of this extended mandatory coronavirus isolation.
It may be as simple as a canceled birthday party or missing the senior year of a spring high school sport. Some may have lost a job or fear losing a job. You or someone you know may be sick. Or you may have experienced the tragic loss of life of someone close to you from COVID-19.
Arlington Democrats say they’re planning to conduct the upcoming School Board endorsement caucus via the mail, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“This extraordinary procedural change supports Virginia’s stay-at-home order and recommended social distancing measures necessitated by the global coronavirus pandemic,” the local party said, in a press release.
Progressive Voice is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the authors’.
By Katie Cristol and Matt de Ferranti
Just six days after the number of COVID-19 cases in Arlington topped the 100 mark, the county is now reporting more than 200 cases.
As of Monday morning there were 203 known coronavirus cases in Arlington County, according to the latest Virginia Dept. of Health data. An additional 35 cases were reported Sunday, the county’s steepest daily increase so far.
(Updated at 1:35 p.m.) During the coronavirus outbreak, healthcare workers are being hailed as heroes.
But one Arlington doctor had the police called to her office this week by a resident who was outraged that she was conducting in-car COVID-19 tests in the building’s parking lot.
There are now 128 known coronavirus cases in Arlington, the second-highest total among Virginia localities.
Only neighboring Fairfax County, with 328 cases, has more. That’s according to the latest Virginia Dept. of Health data, which today (Thursday) reported 1,706 cases statewide, along with 246 hospitalizations and 41 deaths.
With COVID-19, there’s a lag between when social distancing measures are put in place and when the pace of reported infections starts slowing down.
Arlington, it seems, has not yet hit the point at which the curve starts flattening.
