(Updated at 3:55 p.m.) Arlington County and the Virginia Department of Health have announced the county’s first “presumptive” case of coronavirus.
An individual in their 60s who recently returned from international travel tested positive for the rapidly-spreading disease, the county said.
“The positive result returned Sunday evening is considered presumptive, pending confirmation by the CDC,” Arlington County said in a press release. “The individual had limited contact with others while ill and the risk to the general Arlington community remains low.”
Elsewhere in Northern Virginia, a City of Fairfax resident and a Marine at Fort Belvoir recently tested positive for coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. The Marine Corps said in a statement that the Marine was “administratively attached to Henderson Hall,” which is in Arlington.
Asked this morning whether any person or workplace in Arlington was contacted by the health department after potential contact with the Marine, a spokesman for Arlington’s Dept. of Human Services said only that it is “[Virginia Dept. of Health] policy not to provide that level of detail.” (Update: Office tenants in Crystal City are being told that a coronavirus patient worked in a local office building.)
Arlington Public Schools said in an email to parents Monday afternoon that schools are staying open for now, despite the first local case.
“At this time, our schools remain open and there are no changes to school-sponsored activities,” APS said. “Any change to normal operating status would be based on a recommendation from health officials.”
Arlington Transit, meanwhile, has announced that it distributing hand sanitizer to employees and will now “deep clean and sanitize all buses thoroughly at the end of each night by using approved disinfectant to wipe down all stanchions, hand rails, passenger seats, windows and all components in the driver’s area.”
The full press release on the Arlington County coronavirus case is below, after the jump.