The calendar may have turned a page, but COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County keep going up.
The Fairfax Health District, which also includes Fairfax and Falls Church cities, has added 812 cases over the past three days, according to the Virginia Department of Health, which didn’t report new cases on Saturday or Sunday (April 30-May 1).
Fairfax Connector has not formally rescinded its requirement that all passengers wear face masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
However, a court ruling that struck down federal mandates last week means that the public bus service can no longer enforce its policy, which relied on a now-halted directive from the Transportation Security Administration.
Officially, Fairfax County’s COVID-19 community level remains low, but when the county last saw this many cases, Fairfax County Public Schools was still fighting to keep masks in place.
The Fairfax Health District, which also includes the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, is now averaging 270 cases a day for the past week — the highest seven-day average since Feb. 13 (274 cases) — after adding more than 300 cases each on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (April 21-23).
On March 12, a resident of Fairfax County, or possibly the cities of Fairfax or Falls Church died from COVID-19.
Reported to the Virginia Department of Health within the past week, the most recent confirmed death brings the Fairfax Health District’s death toll from the pandemic up to 1,500 people.
Fairfax County Public Schools is winding down its COVID-19 testing services for students and staff.
The school system announced in a newsletter last night (Wednesday) that, next Friday (April 22), it will discontinue the optional weekly screening testing and diagnostic drive-thru testing sites introduced last year as part of its efforts to support in-person learning during the pandemic.
(Updated at 9 a.m.) County Board Chair Tests Positive for Covid — Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay announced last night (Monday) that he has tested positive for COVID-19. He reported experiencing “minor symptoms which are uncomfortable but manageable” and is currently working from home and quarantining. [Jeff McKay/Twitter]
Johnny Depp Fans Wait at Courthouse — “Fans who stood outside the main entrance of the Fairfax County Courthouse with the hopes of glimpsing actor Johnny Depp as he appeared for the first day of his defamation trial were disappointed. The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star skipped the crowds and entered the courthouse through another door.” [Patch]
Fairfax County’s COVID-19 transmission level is still well below where it was this past winter, but a rise in cases that was barely perceptible a week ago has started to solidify into a more concrete trend.
The Fairfax Health District, which includes Fairfax and Falls Church cities, is averaging 167 cases a day for the past week. That’s the highest weekly average since Feb. 18 (169 cases) and more than twice this year’s low point of 77 cases on March 22, according to Virginia Department of Health data.
(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) Your perception of the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fairfax County might vary depending on which data dashboard you’re looking at.
For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies the county’s COVID-19 community level as “low” based on the hospitalization metrics that the federal agency has used since February.
(Updated April 1) Empty parking spaces have been common sights near Fairfax County’s five Virginia Railway Express stations over the last two years.
Like those of other transit agencies nationwide, the commuter railway service’s woes during the COVID-19 pandemic have been well-documented, but a new ad campaign airing this month and next is looking to regain riders.
Health Department Updates Covid Data — The county’s dashboard for COVID-19 data will report the 7-day average number of daily cases instead of the number of new cases, and two other metrics were added to the dashboard. The additions are the 7-day average number of daily new deaths, and the current community level, including the metrics that determine the level (hospitalizations, hospital capacity and cases within a community). [Fairfax County Government]
FBI Relaunches New HQ Search — “President Joe Biden’s administration made it clear that the federal government would be consolidating the FBI’s headquarters outside of D.C. in the General Services Administration’s fiscal year 2023 budget request…The move has been in limbo for years. During then-President Barack Obama’s administration, the GSA had narrowed down potential locations to Greenbelt, Landover and Springfield.” [Bisnow]
