(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) Arlington is starting its gradual reopening today, amid a mixed picture of local coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
The Virginia Dept. of Health reported 50 new COVID-19 cases in Arlington overnight, bringing the total to 2,098. The past seven days have added 326 new cases, the highest seven-day total since May 9.
More tests are now being conducted in Arlington, however. On May 9 the seven-day moving average of daily tests was just over 150. The latest data from VDH puts it at 251 and rising.
Hospitalizations, meanwhile, are at the lowest point in at least four weeks. VDH subtracted one from Arlington’s cumulative hospitalizations overnight, bringing the seven-day total of new hospitalizations to 26.
Disparities within Arlington’s 26 square miles are increasingly evident in the state health department data. Cases among those who are Hispanic or Latino are now 54% of the county’s total, when ethnicity is listed, up from 51% when we first reported on demographic disparities last week. Only 15% of the population is Hispanic or Latino
And Arlington’s 22204 zip code, with a preponderance of lower-income and immigrant residents, now has three times as many cases as the next-closest zip code: 22203, another area with a sizable immigrant population. (The 22204 zip code also has more than twice as many tests reported as the next-highest Arlington zip, 22207, which includes much of residential North Arlington.)
Together 22203 and 22204 also have Arlington’s highest test positivity rates — 25.6% and 27.3% respectively.