Fairfax County Public Schools will comply with the new Virginia law prohibiting local school boards from enforcing universal mask requirements.
Face masks will be optional on school property for students starting Tuesday (March 1), Superintendent Scott Brabrand confirmed today (Friday) in a message to families.
Fairfax County’s COVID-19 case levels have almost dropped to where they were before the omicron variant took over.
The Fairfax Health District, which also encompasses the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, added 172 cases today (Monday), bringing its total for the pandemic up to 174,578 cases. With 189 cases, yesterday was the first day since Dec. 14 with fewer than 200 new cases.
Fairfax County has now seen close to a month of plummeting COVID-19 case rates.
With 267 new cases reported today (Monday), the Fairfax Health District, which includes the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, is averaging 448 cases per day for the past week, a steep decline from the seven-day average of 2,590 cases recorded when the omicron variant-fueled surge peaked on Jan. 13.
The Fairfax County Health Department is investigating a possible measles exposure in the area.
Health officials believe an individual with the disease may have exposed residents earlier this month, they announced today (Monday).
Fairfax County Public Schools will continue requiring face masks after notching a victory in its lawsuit against Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order prohibiting school mask mandates.
Arlington County Circuit Court Judge Louise DiMatteo granted a temporary injunction today (Friday) to Fairfax County and the six other school boards suing Youngkin, allowing them to enforce their mask requirements until a permanent ruling is made.
The Fairfax County Health Department will stop investigating every COVID-19 case to identify close contacts who may have been exposed to the disease.
County staff will instead focus their contact-tracing efforts on outbreaks and cases in high-risk settings, such as long-term care and healthcare facilities, the department announced today (Wednesday).
The omicron wave continues to subside in Fairfax County, which is now seeing only a third as many COVID-19 cases as it was half a month ago.
The county is averaging 753 new cases a day for the past week, compared to 2,520 cases at the current surge’s height on Jan. 13. The caseload is still above last winter’s peak of 697 cases on Jan. 17, 2021, but at this rate, it could drop below that level within a week.
With a second week of consistently declining cases, Fairfax County’s current, omicron variant-fueled Covid wave has receded closer to the levels seen last winter.
The Fairfax Health District, including the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, reported 607 new cases today (Monday). With 845 cases added yesterday (Sunday), it’s the first time since Dec. 20 and 21 that there have been fewer than 1,000 new cases on consecutive days.
The peak of this winter’s omicron variant surge might be in the rearview mirror for Fairfax County.
After hitting an all-time high of 2,520 cases on Thursday (Jan. 13), the county’s COVID-19 caseload has dropped sharply over the past few days to a current weekly average of 1,919 new cases per day, according to Virginia Department of Health data.
After only five days of in-person instruction so far, Fairfax County Public Schools has reported 620 COVID-19 cases and quarantined 1,534 students this month.
FCPS has paused 11 classes since schools reopened after winter break on Monday (Jan. 10), spokesperson Julie Moult said in an email, meaning in-person learning was suspended to enable contact tracing.
