health department

Making Room: Please Give Us Space for Social Distancing

By Jane Green

Making Room is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.

We are now in Week 4 of social distancing. Schools are closed. Most stores are closed or pick-up only. Arlingtonians who are not fortunate enough to be teleworking are faced with furloughs, layoffs, or difficult travel to essential work. Arlington has even closed parks, fields, courts, and playgrounds.

These are difficult changes that are intended to flatten the curve of coronavirus infections.

But as we prepare to stay at home until June 10, as the governor has ordered, we will need outlets for safe outdoor exercise. About half of Arlington County residents do not have a yard. Our public and private spaces are incredibly limited.

The sidewalk is nearly all that is available to us to get exercise and fresh air, which is critical for a lasting commitment to social distancing. Arlington County even agrees that individual outdoor exercise is a legitimate activity.

https://twitter.com/ArlingtonVA/status/1247881918697406464

Anyone who has tried to go for a walk in the past few weeks can plainly see that our neighborhoods were not built for social distancing. None of our sidewalks are wide enough for people to pass with 6 feet of distance. But while you might blame density for the crowded conditions, the problem lies in the 30 feet of pavement we have devoted to cars.

With all that has changed about our lives, our deference to cars has remained. Even as the streets have emptied of commuters, shoppers, and visitors, our roads remain unchanged. Arlington residents have made voluntarily limited our freedom of movement. We need to expect the same for cars.

Across the country, cities are blocking of parkways and widening sidewalks. Arlington County needs to make our community safer for outdoor recreation by repurposing street space. Instead of privileging cars, we need to create priority for walkers, joggers, and cyclists. This is a critical issue of public health. For social distancing to be successful, we need to give people opportunities to go outside.

You don’t even have to take it from me. Dan Rather agrees (although we shouldn’t wait until later).

Coronavirus Update: Cases Continue to Rise, Senior Centers an Area of Concern

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 10:55 a.m.) There are now just under 400 known coronavirus cases in Arlington.

The number of cases continued to rise over the weekend, with Saturday seeing Arlington’s steepest increase in cases — 37 — so far during the pandemic. The past two days have seen more modest increases.

The current case count in Arlington stands at 390, up from 203 a week prior, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. Statewide, VDH is reporting 5,747 cases, 903 hospitalizations and 149 deaths, with 41,401 people tested.

VDH has also released additional local data about outbreaks and testing.

According to the state health department, 1,913 people have been tested and 35 have been hospitalized in Arlington. There have been eight reported “outbreaks” in Arlington, including:

  • 5 in long-term care facilities, like assisted living centers and nursing homes
  • 2 in congregate settings, like apartments, churches, and workplaces
  • 1 in a healthcare setting, like medical offices and fire/EMS facilities

Senior centers, assisted living facilities and nursing homes are a particular concern.

“Nearly 2,500 long-term care facilities in 36 states are battling coronavirus cases, according to data gathered by NBC News from state agencies, an explosive increase of 522 percent compared to a federal tally just 10 days ago,” NBC News reported on Friday. “The toll of these outbreaks is growing. NBC News tallied 2,246 deaths associated with long-term care facilities, based on responses from 24 states. This, too, is an undercount; about half of all states said they could not provide data on nursing home deaths, or declined to do so.”

Statewide data from VDH, sorted by age group, shows that while hospitalizations are more distributed, deaths are highly concentrated among those ages 60 and above — 91%.

In Arlington, at least 2-3 assisted living and senior living facilities have reported coronavirus cases, ARLnow hears.

A memo obtained by ARLnow dated April 5 describes someone testing positive at one of two Sunrise Senior Living facilities in Arlington.

“I’m writing to share that this morning we were notified about a positive COVID-19 diagnosis in our community,” the memo said. “We are following guidance from the CDC and local department of health in Arlington as well as closely coordinating with our corporate leadership teams to implement additional precautions in our community.”

The company did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Regency Care of Arlington, in Pentagon City, also has an outbreak, according to a tipster, though that could not be immediately confirmed.

The Brookdale Senior Living community in Virginia Square, meanwhile, has a confirmed outbreak.

“Brookdale’s top priority is the health and safety of our residents and associates,” a spokeswoman told ARLnow in a statement. “We can confirm that more than one member of our Brookdale Arlington community has tested positive for COVID-19. We have informed residents, their family members, and associates of Brookdale Arlington of this matter.”

“We are diligently monitoring our residents and associates for signs and symptoms, and we continue to work directly with local health officials to help ensure our residents and associates have the appropriate and necessary medical support,” the company added. “We will continue to follow the guidance of the Arlington County Public Health Division throughout this situation.”

Arlington’s Dept. of Human Services as repeatedly declined requests from ARLnow to provide more specific information about where cases are being reported. The department issued the following statement on Friday.

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Arlington Drive-Through Site Has Tested More than 1,000

By ARLnow.com

More than 1,000 people have been tested for coronavirus at the joint Arlington County/Virginia Hospital Center drive-through site near Washington-Liberty High School.

The county said the site, which opened on March 18, is now testing up to 100 people per day. Its hours were recently expanded and the testing opened up to those who don’t live in Arlington or work for the county. Test results, meanwhile, are now available earlier, according to an Arlington County press release.

“Testing for COVID-19 is an important tool to slow the spread of the virus in our community, in our region, and our nation,” Dr. Reuben Varghese, Health Director and Public Health Division Chief for Arlington County, said in the press release. “The sample collection effort that Virginia Hospital Center has stood up with Arlington is helping our community add a critical tool to slowing the spread of virus here.”

In addition to the drive-through site, other, private testing sites are open in parts of Arlington.

On Twitter, the county also noted that Virginia Hospital Center is exploring the use of convalescent plasma as a possible treatment for severe COVID-19 cases, and has joined a clinical trial for the antiviral medication remdesivir.

As of today more than 300 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Arlington by the Virginia Dept. of Health.

More on the testing site milestone, from the county press release:

The drive-through COVID-19 Sample Collection Site opened by Virginia Hospital Center (VHC), a community-based hospital providing medical services to the Washington, DC metropolitan area for 75 years, in partnership with Arlington County has collected samples for COVID-19 testing from more than 1,000 patients since first opening on March 18.

“Every person who comes through our site is now one step closer to having much-needed answers,” said James Meenan, Director of the Outpatient Lab at Virginia Hospital Center. “Our team continues to become more and more efficient as we provide this service to members of our community.”

“Testing for COVID-19 is an important tool to slow the spread of the virus in our community, in our region, and our nation. The sample collection effort that Virginia Hospital Center has stood up with Arlington is helping our community add a critical tool to slowing the spread of virus here,” said Dr. Reuben Varghese, Health Director and Public Health Division Chief for Arlington County.  “This tool along with physical distancing of 6 feet or greater when you have to go outside as permitted under the stay at home orders in the Commonwealth, and frequently washing your hands with soap and water are a package of tools in our control to slow COVID-19 and flatten the curve.”

As the team onsite has worked to streamline its processes, the Hospital has been able to expand available appointments and the COVID Scheduling Line hours.

  • The site now collects samples from up to 100 adults each day, nearly doubling its capacity.
  • The COVID Scheduling Line is now open from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Monday through Friday and appointment openings are available on most days.
  • Individuals still need to receive a physician’s order to make an appointment, but they no longer need to be an Arlington resident or employee.
  • Physicians with symptomatic patients can send orders to the Virginia Hospital Center outpatient lab electronically in EPIC or via fax to 703-558-2448.
  • Once a patient has received a physician’s order, they should call the VHC COVID-19 Scheduling Line at 703-558-5766 between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm. Patients must schedule an appointment before visiting the collection site.
  • Individuals arriving at the drive-through site must be in a vehicle and should remain in their cars.

VHC has added additional partner labs to process the samples for testing to facilitate faster turnaround times for results. Individuals waiting for results should follow the instructions of their health care provider and self-quarantine.

Morning Poll: Suspend All Towing?

By ARLnow.com

There’s a global-pandemic-slash-economic-crisis going on, but you know what apparently isn’t affected? Towing.

Just like death and taxes, being towed is inevitable if you park without a permit in a private lot patrolled by a towing company. Even now.

That hasn’t stopped some people from trying, though, with predictable results. One local resident contacted ARLnow to suggest that trespass towing presents unnecessary risks during this time.

I live in a condo association in South Arlington that has parking policies that during normal conditions ensures that there is enough parking spaces for its residents at night. The policy is in effect from 8PM to 8AM. Virginia is currently under stay-at-home orders. My neighbors are not having gatherings or parties. Parking spots are not taken to local traffic visiting bars and restaurants. There are adequate spaces for residents and their guests. The parking policy does not hold.

However, the condo association is upholding a parking policy. Since my car was towed because I had not shown the proper permit, I need to get an Uber to the towing company in Falls Church and I would need to interact with the towing company to pay for any fees. I am putting my health in jeopardy, along with every person that I interact with. All of these risks could have been avoided if my car was not towed in the first place. I am not sure if towing from a residential property constitutes as essential business.

Who is looking out for our community’s well being for nonessential business that might put us at risk? How do we uphold stay-at-home guidelines when businesses are operating as business as usual?

I suspect that my circumstance is not the only one. I am not confident that Alrington can lower its positive Coronavirus cases if we do not take social distancing seriously.

(ARLnow has received similar messages about the county’s parking enforcement: “I noticed all cars being ticketed on my street this morning… Might be a good article to publish / investigate given the federal government’s recommendation that people not leave their homes / condos.”)

Given the current public health emergency, do you think it would make sense to suspend all trespass towing on private lots — kind of like The Purge but for parking? Or should parking restrictions should continue to be enforced?

Another Rise in Local COVID-19 Cases, Amid Jump in Va. Deaths

By ARLnow.com

Another 26 coronavirus cases were reported overnight in Arlington, bringing the total known cases in the county to 280.

That’s the third-highest rise in total cases, with the two steeper increases both occurring within the past five days. The overall case count is more than double that of seven days ago, when 128 cases were reported.

Thursday’s big headline from the updated Virginia Dept. of Health data, however, is sadly a jump in the number of deaths reported. Statewide, there are now 4,042 known cases, 685 hospitalizations and 109 deaths.

That is a 45% increase over the 75 deaths reported Wednesday.

The state health department says 34 deaths have occurred in Northern Virginia, while 41 were in central Virginia.

In Fairfax County, meanwhile, an additional 120 COVID-19 cases were reported overnight, rising from 570 cases Wednesday to 690 today. Fairfax has about five times the population of Arlington.

County Officials Reminding Residents to Stay Out of Closed Parks, Maintain Distance on Trails

By ARLnow.com
1/5

Arlington officials are reminding residents that it’s okay to go outside during the pandemic — as long as they maintain social distancing and stay out of closed facilities.

The county closed parks, playgrounds, athletic courts, tracks, dog parks and other outdoor places where people congregate late last month. Despite that, there have been repeated examples of people still using such facilities, necessitating more stringent measures and — in some cases — a response from Arlington County Police.

With the weather turning warmer, the Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation yesterday posted a reminder to Twitter about the closures and the need to maintain a 6-foot distance from others, including on increasingly crowded local trails. It has also been posting signs about social distancing around local parks.

“It’s hard, but social distancing saves lives,” Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey said in a video accompanying the parks department’s social media post. “We must do all we can to flatten this curve.”

Not everyone thinks that limiting people’s outdoor recreation options is a good thing, though. While sports that require contact with a shared object, like a ball, are riskier, there is less evidence that being in moderately populated parks is dangerous.

Some believe, in fact, that measures encouraging people to stay inside rather than enjoying the outdoors is harmful. Among them is writer and academic Zeynep Tufekci, who was among the first to prominently question official health guidance against wearing masks (which is now being encouraged) earlier in the outbreak.

Arlington County is trying to strike a balance between the two, closing parks but also encouraging outdoor, individual exercise.

The Dept. of Parks and Recreation’s guidance is below, after the jump.

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The Right Note: Planning Now to Move Forward

By Mark Kelly

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

We are all feeling the effects of this extended mandatory coronavirus isolation.

It may be as simple as a canceled birthday party or missing the senior year of a spring high school sport. Some may have lost a job or fear losing a job. You or someone you know may be sick. Or you may have experienced the tragic loss of life of someone close to you from COVID-19.

Our elected leaders here in Arlington are dealing with all of the practical effects of governing through uncertainty. They are tackling the “must do” items that come with an unprecedented public health emergency.

Now we are seeing some encouraging signs that mitigation is working and the rate of spread is slowing, even with ramped-up testing. Over the past week, the University of Washington model dramatically reduced the time for Virginia to reach peak hospital usage from May 17 to April 20.

In other words, we may be seeing some of the first signs of light at the end of the tunnel. This reminds us that we need our leaders to find a path forward after the crisis has lifted.

Our government structure in America is set up to make local government the most important in assessing and addressing the immediate needs of the people it serves. While it may be awhile before we are fully back to normal, hopefully our local leaders are keeping one eye on what’s next.

We are in the middle of an interrupted annual budget season in Arlington. Yesterday, County Manager Mark Schwartz presented a revised budget to the County Board that would reportedly reduce spending by $56 million. Here are five suggestions as they continue to make plans for moving forward past this crisis.

Plan for the best case scenario first. If we are able to begin to resume normalcy on May 1 or May 15 or June 1, then what would that look like in Arlington?

  1. Scrub the county budget again to remove any more “nice to have” items that can wait for one, two or even five years. Arlingtonians have come to appreciate the essentials in life over the past three weeks, we are ok if the government does the same.
  2. Give individuals and businesses a substantial property tax rate cut to help our local economy get back on its feet faster. A rate cut of ten cents for one year would make a real difference.
  3. Dip into the rainy day funds to pay for things we need now. We set this money aside for an emergency. A once-in-a-century pandemic should qualify.
  4. Put forward a plan to bring down our long term debt to revenue ratio by 10 to 20 percent, so that we have some breathing room to protect our bond rating moving forward.

Finally, please take a positive and hopeful approach as you plan. Do not waste time pointing fingers or attempting to assign political blame in these uncertain times. Just get the job done for the people you serve.

Mark Kelly is a 19-year Arlington resident, former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

Arlington Dems to Conduct Voting via Mail for School Board Race

By ARLnow.com

Arlington Democrats say they’re planning to conduct the upcoming School Board endorsement caucus via the mail, due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“This extraordinary procedural change supports Virginia’s stay-at-home order and recommended social distancing measures necessitated by the global coronavirus pandemic,” the local party said, in a press release.

Starting today, Arlington Democrats can request a ballot online. The ballot request deadline if May 7, and the deadline for submitting the ballots is May 30.

There are five candidates — Steven Krieger, Cristina Diaz-Torres, David Priddy, Sandy Munnell, and Terron Sims — seeking the Democratic endorsement in the race for the School Board seats being vacated by incumbents Tannia Talento and Nancy Van Doren. A sixth candidate, Symone Walker, is no longer seeking the Democratic endorsement and is instead running as an independent.

The full press release about the vote-by-mail change is below.

After consulting with the five candidates seeking the endorsement of the Arlington County Democratic Committee to fill two open seats on the Arlington School Board, Arlington Dems today launched a process to conduct its endorsement caucus by mail. This extraordinary procedural change supports Virginia’s stay-at-home order and recommended social distancing measures necessitated by the global coronavirus pandemic.

“We had lengthy internal discussions about how to run our endorsement caucus responsibly during the coronavirus pandemic,” Arlington Dems Chair Jill Caiazzo said. “We determined that, given our available resources, the only safe and reliable option for a large-scale caucus is to conduct the vote by mail.”

The caucus will take place in four phases:

  1. Voter Validation and Ballot Request. Effective today (April 7) at 9 a.m. EDT, Arlington Dems will launch a secure online ballot request form via the Arlington Democrats website at www.arlingtondemocrats.org/school-board-caucus. To begin the process to receive a ballot, prospective voters will provide standard identifying information that will allow Arlington Dems to validate that they are Arlington County registered voters. Although online submission of the form is strongly preferred, a PDF version will be available for downloading and mailing to Arlington Dems. All ballot requests must be received (not postmarked) by May 7.
  2. Ballot Mailing. Registered voters whose requests are received by the May 7 deadline will receive their ballots by U.S. Postal Service mail. Ballots will be mailed on a rolling basis. Arlington Dems will include stamped, self-addressed envelopes with ballots, which voters are strongly encouraged to use to return their ballots. They will be returned to a post office box exclusively devoted to receiving School Board Caucus ballots.
  3. Voting. The deadline for receipt (not postmark) of completed ballots by Arlington Dems is May 30. Voters are strongly encouraged to immediately complete and return their ballots to ensure they are received by the deadline. Candidate representatives will be able to watch ballots being retrieved from the post office box and secured through live video-conferencing or in person, the latter provided they observe recommended social distancing measures. No ballots will be counted until all are collected after the May 30 deadline.
  4. Counting and results. Arlington Dems will begin counting the ballots the morning of May 31, or as soon as possible after that date. Observing recommended social distancing measures, Caucus leadership will open envelopes and validate the authenticity of enclosed ballots. Candidates or their representatives may observe the process via live video conferencing. Arlington Dems will use a process to anonymize ballots during the ballot counting, which will be conducted using a virtual procedure.

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Progressive Voice: Local Government Steady and Resolved During Covid-19 Challenges

By Progressive Voice

Progressive Voice is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the authors’.

By Katie Cristol and Matt de Ferranti

In a conference call, Progressive Voice editors asked Arlington County Board members Katie Cristol and Matt de Ferranti about their insights on the challenges of being a leader in local government during the trying time of the COVID-19 epidemic.

PV: Tell us about the challenge of making pressing leadership decisions, such as on the County budget, when there are fewer known facts, data and projections about 2021 and beyond.

MD: This isn’t an easy budget. In normal years, we have about 10-12 budget work sessions. You have time to learn, synthesize. This year, the fiscal reality has changed during the middle of the process, so it’s challenging to accept the new reality and adjust quickly.

Ultimately, we have to focus on values and what we must do: keeping people safe, making sure people are not evicted, and meeting our commitments and basic human needs. So we will do a pretty basic budget, and in the coming year, may come back and make adjustments. It’s a dynamic environment.

KC: It helps that Arlington’s fiscal fundamentals are still strong. Arlington is in very good fiscal health–such as our bond rating, our fully funded pension plan. What we are really talking about is lost opportunities–the investments we hoped to have made in this budget to attract good people to work here, expand human services, expand our capacity to fix street lights more quickly.

There may be harder times ahead. But what enables me to tell residents we can weather the pandemic as well as the economic challenges is that the fundamentals are still there. We have excellent public health and emergency response teams. We have staff who were with us during 9/11, during the recession starting in 2008. Our public health director got us through H1N1. I hope people feel confident by the amount of expertise brought to bear. We [County Board] are the faces on policy, but a lot of the pandemic response is at the professional expert level.

KC: I was reading through comments, a chat that the county manager did with staff, and it was a reminder of how dedicated the people who work for government are…. EMS, Fire are top of mind but also people who administer food stamps…they are risking their own safety to do that.

PV: What ways have you found to balance necessary health and safety (such as physical distancing) with the desire to shore up the economy, small business and workers? Any new insights about the role of government?

MD: Local governments and state governments have had to step forward, particularly because of an absence of leadership from the federal government, so the breadth of what local government can do is more clear to me than ever. There is an opportunity for innovation as we seek to serve all of our residents well.

KC: At the policy level, we’ve been providing small business technical assistance through BizLaunch, trying to help owners navigate SBA loans.

KC: We’ve been wrestling with how to support our restaurants, which are hurting so deeply. Very quickly, DES [Department of Environmental Services] traffic management set up free parking zones marked with signs outside the restaurants. Those are safer and easier for people [to pick up takeaway orders].

Doing things so quickly now will carry over to expecting it to always be so quick. When people discover how quickly we can do these changes…[laughs] without so much public engagement. People are used to [a long time of] hashing out pros and cons for something like curb space management.

PV: Will there be lingering after-effects on public engagement, move more quickly after the emergency passes?

MD: I think there will be some changes in public engagement. People will still want input and we will engage fully, but I think we will evolve a bit, so our input is both thorough and effective in making sure we hear from our whole community.

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JUST IN: Coronavirus Cases in Arlington Now Above 200

By ARLnow.com

Just six days after the number of COVID-19 cases in Arlington topped the 100 mark, the county is now reporting more than 200 cases.

As of Monday morning there were 203 known coronavirus cases in Arlington County, according to the latest Virginia Dept. of Health data. An additional 35 cases were reported Sunday, the county’s steepest daily increase so far.

Statewide, there are 2,878 known cases, 497 hospitalizations, 54 deaths and 24,521 cases. Neighboring Alexandria has 93 reported cases, while Fairfax County — with about five times Arlington’s population — has 488 reported cases.

The state health department’s data shows relatively few cases among those 19 years of age and younger, but those 20 and up appear similarly susceptible to contracting the virus.

Condo Resident Calls Cops on Doctor Testing Patients in Parking Lot

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 1:35 p.m.) During the coronavirus outbreak, healthcare workers are being hailed as heroes.

But one Arlington doctor had the police called to her office this week by a resident who was outraged that she was conducting in-car COVID-19 tests in the building’s parking lot.

Dr. Lillian Hunt owns a ground-floor office condo at The Chatham condominium building, located a mile south of Ballston at 4501 Arlington Blvd. She says she started testing her patients last Monday “as soon as my commercial labs could give me the test kits.”

“I started testing because patients and colleagues with exposures and/or viral symptoms could not get tested by the overwhelmed public sector,” Dr. Hunt told ARLnow. “When Arlington announced public testing the prior week, I sent an order to a patient who returned from Europe just before the international flights were restricted. The patient had a fever of 102.5, dry cough, sore throat, and severe malaise. She drove to the site across from W-L high school but was unable to get the test done due to excess demand.”

Despite her testing protocol reportedly following health department guidelines, some condo residents were incensed and wrote complaints to building management. (An Arlington health department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.)

“Management received some emails yesterday from residents with concerns about the doctor testing patients in their vehicles in the parking lot,” said a notice set to residents this week, adding that the condo association board and its attorney have been informed of the situation.

One resident went so far as to call the police. That resident, whose first name is Erika, reached out to ARLnow with her concerns.

“At the Chatham condominium in Arlington, Va. there is a rogue doctor’s office — Dr. Lillian Hunt — doing COVID-19 tests in the condo parking lot, much to the dismay of its hundreds of residents who live there,” she wrote. “With the closure of the gym at the building, many residents also use the parking lot as a home gym — many unknowingly exercising right next to COVID patients in their cars lining up for tests. Arlington is destined for a spike in COVID cases. And Chatham is going to be the epicenter.”

Erika also posted about her concerns on a Facebook group for the building.

An employee in the doctor’s office says they were “shocked” when police showed up and knocked on the door. Dr. Hunt said she was surprised and “saddened.”

“I was frankly stunned to have the Chatham residents call in a police complaint on me without any communication of their concern directly,” she said. “The officer was unaware that I was operating from a licensed medical office in a condo I own. The officer seemed as confused as my staff as to the complaint and quietly left.”

“My patients in the building did however call to express their support,” she added.

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