We are 10 days into an initial 15-day nationwide effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Lives have tragically been lost. Jobs that seemed secure are now gone. Uncertainty surrounds every decision being made by individuals, families, businesses and our elected leaders. Decisions are being made daily, even hourly that in some cases drastically impact our lives.
This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!
Question: What has been the impact of the Coronavirus/COVID-19 on the real estate market?
Like other nearby localities, Arlington has entered the community transmission phase of coronavirus outbreak.
As of noon Monday, the number of known coronavirus cases in Arlington again increased — to 34 cases from 26 cases on Sunday and 17 on Friday, according to the Virginia Dept. of Health. Some of those are suspected cases of community transmission, which cannot be traced back to travel abroad or contact with a person known to be infected.
As the number of COVID-19 cases in Arlington continues to grow, those in apartments and condos might be wondering about the risks of living in close proximity to others who might test positive for the virus.
It’s worth noting that Arlington County’s health director said earlier this month that “the vast majority” of apartment dwellers have nothing to worry about in terms of their building’s heating and air conditioning systems — the air handling systems “should not lead to spread” of the virus.
A student who attended classes at George Mason University’s Arlington campus has tested positive for the coronavirus, the university says.
GMU says it was notified about the positive test last night.
Updated 3/23 — Owner Rich Vizard thanked the Arlington community for recent support, noted the sanitary precautions they are following, and thanked the County Treasurer for tax relief options passed after publication of the story.
Allspice Catering wants to thank the community for its support during these unprecedented times. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we respond to questions and orders. We want to stress that we are staying vigilant during this time and continue to follow all the ServSafe Guidelines to prevent the Coronavirus in a food establishment. We are committed to taking all precautions to protect our customers and our staff including being mindful of proper habits to follow outside of the workplace to protect ourselves and each other. I’d also like to thank Treasurer Carla de la Pava for taking quick decisive action on local tax relief options for restaurants and hotels. Be safe and take care of each other.
APS Creates Learning at Home Guide — “We have created a Learning at Home webpage that pulls details on instruction, additional educational resources for families, activities and resources for coping with stress. If you have questions, please send them to [email protected].” [Arlington Public Schools, Twitter]
How to Report Price Gouging in Virginia — “If you see excessive price increases for coronavirus (COVID-19) necessities, report it to Attorney General Mark Herring’s office.” [Facebook, Attorney General Mark Herring]
(Updated at 10:25 p.m.) In a small press conference, local officials explained that the second day of drive-in coronavirus testing went well but efforts are hamstrung by a lack of coronavirus tests.
“We’ve been able to process 63 patients,” said Melody Dickerson, Virginia Hospital Center’s Chief Nursing Officer. “We are training more laboratory staff to help with the process. The limiting resource is the testing supplies. That is a finite resource and we continue to monitor that closely.”
While reducing the human toll of the coronavirus outbreak is a top priority, Arlington officials are also trying to determine its impact on the upcoming county budget.
Given that the length and depth of the economic fallout from the outbreak is unknown at this point, county leaders are not sure how exactly it will affect the budget, which has to be approved before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.
There are now 17 known coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Arlington, again giving the county the highest case count of any individual locality in the state.
That’s up from 14 cases in Arlington yesterday. There are a total of 94 COVID-19 cases statewide, according to the Virginia Dept. of Health, after 1,923 tests administered. Across the Commonwealth, two people have died from the disease.
Arlington County has established a new hotline to answer questions from the public about the coronavirus outbreak: 703-228-7999.
Officials announced the new hotline last night, on the same day that Virginia Hospital Center and the county opened its new drive-through testing site.
Last month, ARLnow set a new all-time readership record: 1.45 million pageviews. In the nine days since the first coronavirus case was reported in Arlington, we have blown that away, setting fresh records every night.
For the past 30 days, we’ve served 600,000 readers and just under 2 million pageviews.
