Halloween is a month away, but people are already starting to wonder how it’s going to play out.
Health authorities are cautioning against trick-or-treating during the pandemic. So far it has not been officially banned, but there is historical precedence for doing so.
During the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was at its deadliest between October and December, a number of U.S. cities banned Halloween parties and celebration, according to CNN.
What to do about Halloween is a hot topic on local Nextdoor threads.
“As tough as it is we are not going to engage in this this year to protect not only ourselves but others,” one resident said, on a recent thread visible to those in some North Arlington neighborhoods. “I really wish everyone could just buckle down so we can get the schools back open, even if it means sitting it out this year.”
Others disagreed.
“If people can safely protest, kids can trick or treat,” said another local resident. “This is nuts. This is an outdoor activity. I’m certain kids and their parents can social distance and those over the age of 2 yrs can wear proper masks.”
Given the current likelihood of there being some trick-or-treaters out and about this year, what is your plan for offering candy? Will you be answering the door, leaving a jar outside, or skipping the holiday altogether?
Once can hardly go a block in some parts of Arlington without spotting a Tesla, but the vast majority of vehicles on local streets are still powered by fossil fuels.
The proportion of electric vehicles on the road is expected to increase, albeit gradually. The Edison Electric Institute expects 3.5 million electric vehicles to be sold annually in the U.S. in 2030; that compares to the total of 17 million vehicles sold last year.
The switch to electric will have a number of advantages: less noise along busy roads, lower operating and maintenance costs, and a cleaner environment.
Switching to electric vehicles would save lives, time and money, and the D.C. area would be one of the prime beneficiaries, a new study finds.
The American Lung Association’s Road to Clean Air report placed D.C. among the top 10 metropolitan areas that would benefit from a switchover to electric cars, buses and trucks by the middle of the century.
Compared with a “business as usual” scenario, the D.C. area would see about 175 fewer premature deaths a year by 2050; nearly 3,000 fewer asthma attacks; about 12,000 fewer lost workdays per year and more than $2 million in public health benefits, the association said in a statement.
Today we’re wondering: how many Arlingtonians are planning to buy an electric vehicle over the next 10 years?
Across the region, office buildings have remained largely sparsely populated since the start of the pandemic, with most employees working from home.
It might stay that way for awhile.
“It could be next summer before the bulk of the Washington region’s workers return to their offices after months spent teleworking because of the novel coronavirus, according to a new survey,” the Washington Post reported yesterday. That has big implications for traffic, for commercial real estate, and for the business that serves workers in central business districts.
While some have returned to the office in the six months since the start of the pandemic, a study led by the Greater Washington Partnership found that many employers are still not sure when they’ll bring workers back. The study, according to the Post, says that a third of employees are expected to resume commuting to the office this fall, 40% this spring, and 72% by next summer.
Those figures, of course, are largely a function of the desire of employers to bring workers back into offices. In this morning’s poll, we wanted to ask those that work in offices: when do you want to come back?
Arlington was the big winner of the biggest economic development prize of them all: Amazon’s HQ2.
But Amazon’s second headquarters is nowadays feeling like a very distant second, behind the tech giant’s growing presence in the Seattle area.
“The real HQ2: Amazon adding 10k more jobs in Bellevue, growing further beyond downtown Seattle,” was one headline from earlier this month.
“Amazon to Have as Many Workers in Seattle Suburb As Virginia HQ2,” was another.
Amazon, which is still busy building the first half of its permanent office campus in Pentagon City, has not wavered from its original plans: 25,000 employees in Arlington, across 4 million square feet of new office space, over the next decade. That remained the plan even after it scrapped the idea of hiring 25,000 people in New York City as half of a split HQ2.
(The company hired its 1,000th HQ2 employee this summer; it is currently leasing temporary office space in Crystal City.)
But with Amazon’s already lofty stock price up 67% since the beginning of the year, combined with its growing ambitions and newly-announced Seattle area expansion, one might be forgiven for wondering if Arlington and HQ2 is an after-thought at this point.
Suppose for a moment, however, that the company eventually decides to add to its Arlington presence. Is that a move that you would welcome?
It’s official: the Pumpkin Spice Latte returned to local Starbucks locations today, heralding the imminent arrival of Mr. Autumn Man.
Granted, temperatures today are expected to reach the mid-90s, and the actual calendar start of fall — the Autumnal Equinox — is not for another four weeks. Some people, however, might have their own personal definition of the start of fall.
Maybe the return of the PSL is it for you, in which case fall just started two days before it did last last year.
Or the start of meteorological fall on Sept. 1 may be what you generally consider to be fall.
For many others, it’s the day after Labor Day, the holiday that serves as the “unofficial end of summer” and also marks the closing day for lots of local pools.
Here in Arlington, with a warmer climate than cities to our north, September is usually pretty warm and pleasant, which makes the beginning of October a choice that generally better matches up with the actual weather at the time.
With clear skies and lower temperatures, the past couple of evenings have been downright pleasant outside. Except for one thing: the “bumper crop of mosquitoes” that swarm those venturing outdoors.
Thanks to heavy rains over the past few weeks, mosquitoes have been out in force.
Skeeters! There's been a lot of rain. That means a lot of standing water. That means mosquitoes. Here's what you need to know about mosquitoes and mosquito control: https://t.co/Ori7OEq8KMpic.twitter.com/b9wtYmLhlz
A lot of local businesses are hurting during the pandemic.
Any business that relies on people congregating inside is having a tough time — restaurants, gyms, events organizers, etc. The economic hardship has hit ancillary businesses as well: dry cleaners, for example, are struggling due to few people going to offices and formal events.
Arlington has fared better so far than some other places. While there have been some business closures, it’s been more a trickle of closures than a flood.
That is partially due to Arlington being an affluent place with plenty of government-connected jobs that come with a steady paycheck even during a recession. But it is also, at least in part, due to Arlingtonians going out of their way to support local businesses.
The popular Arlington Neighbors Helping Each Other Through COVID-19 Facebook group regularly hosts discussions about ways to support locally-owned businesses, for instance, including a “Takeout Tuesday” thread where members say which restaurant they’re ordering from that night.
Making an effort to support more local businesses is certainly laudable, but we wonder whether on balance Arlington residents are spending more or less than they did before the pandemic. After all, you might be ordering more takeout, but perhaps when you used to go out in person you’d spend more on drinks, offsetting any increase.
Take a look at your spending habits and let us know where you stand.
Crash at Old Dominion and Little Falls on Aug. 6, 2020
T-bone crash at Old Dominion Drive and Little Falls Road on Aug. 6, 2020
Crash at Old Dominion and Little Falls on Aug. 6, 2020
Crash at Old Dominion Drive and Little Falls Road in May 2020
Crash at Old Dominion Drive and Little Falls Road in May 2020
Crash at Old Dominion Drive and Little Falls Road in May 2020
Changes to Little Falls Road and Old Dominion Drive (Image courtesy of Arlington County)
Intersection of Little Falls Road and Old Dominion Drive (Map via Google Maps)
There was another crash at the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Little Falls Road yesterday afternoon.
No one was seriously injured in the wreck, which temporarily closed the eastbound lanes of Old Dominion Drive in the Rock Spring neighborhood. But it’s just the latest in a long string of crashes.
The crash-prone intersection has been the subject of local discussion for years. It was the scene of 27 crashes over a two-year period between mid-2017 and mid-2019, according to Arlington County police.
Minor safety changes rolled out last year — restricting traffic on Little Falls Road to right turns only during the morning and evening rush hours — have not eliminated the danger. In May, a two-vehicle crash at the intersection sent one car careening into the front yard of a house on the corner.
In 2017, a Williamsburg Middle School student led an effort to convince the county to implement safety changes at the Old Dominion and Little Falls intersection. Ultimately, only the rush hour restrictions were deemed appropriate — county staff said that stop signs for traffic on Old Dominion, an arterial street, would result in too much queuing, while a traffic light was not justified because there was not enough traffic on Little Falls Road. (There are existing stop signs for traffic on Little Falls.)
Given the continued collisions, what, if anything, do you think should be done?
Arlington Public Schools is planning to start the fall semester with most students spending just two days a week in classrooms.
The “hybrid” model would see students spending the other three days a week leaning remotely, from home, a plan similar to that just announced by the country’s largest school system.
Arlington parents will also be able to opt their kids out of physical school entirely, in favor of full-time remote learning. For those students going to schools, however, masks and physical distancing will be required.
There are parents, however, who say that the APS plan is inadequate, and students should be going back to school full-time. A new volunteer coalition, Arlington Parents for Education, has formed to advocate for just that. From the group’s website:
The group recently penned a letter, sent to local news outlets, arguing that “the average citizens of our county will be worse off and those with the fewest resources will be left significantly further behind” if APS does not fully reopen.
The decision the members of the Arlington County School Board will make regarding the Fall semester will be the single most consequential decision they ever make. Superintendent Durán stated that a plan for full-time instruction was his preference. He needs to make it his priority. The need to protect Teachers and Students is tremendously important, but this decision must be made with the fullest picture of health and safety in mind. Unclear references to teacher and student physical and mental health are not a sufficient explanation for failing to provide a full-time option.
Full-time instructions is not some outlier position and should be possible given Virginia’s final phase guidance. Massachusetts, New Jersey and numerous districts all over the world are figuring how to manage their risks and are making plans for students to return in the fall. Considering all the factors, the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly advocates that: “all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.” Arlington needs to follow suit. Conditions on the ground can change and we need to be prepared to meet those conditions. However, that is not an excuse for failing to provide a full-time plan given the current information at hand.
There has been no substantive assessment of why full-time instruction was not selected, and no public guidance from the county on what standards, if any, need to be met to get kids back in school. Even more concerning, there was no assessment provided about the consequences of the superintendent’s proposed plan. APS owes its citizens a breakdown of the expected cost of their plan on the mental, economic, and educational well-being of students and their families. It’s unsound policymaking to offer vague one-sided justifications without being transparent about the consequences their decision will have. This is particularly important when discussing our most vulnerable populations.
Among the advocates for five-day-per-week schooling in the fall: President Trump, who is threatening to cut off funding to school districts that do not physically open in full.
Those who want a full return to classrooms are not alone in their critique of APS. ARLnow has also heard from parents and teachers who do not believe any return to classrooms this fall will be safe.
APS, for its part, recently sent a School Talk email to parents further explaining the rationale for the hybrid back-to-school model and answering other parent questions.
Why APS is not offering a full-time in-school option: We understand there are difficult decisions to be made with both models. The full-time in-school scenario is not possible at this time, due to physical distancing requirements issued by the CDC, Virginia Department of Health and local health officials. Physical distancing limits the number of students and staff who can be inside a school at any one time, so the hybrid model allows half of students to be in school part of the week in order to reduce capacities in classrooms and on buses.
What APS will do if health conditions improve: If health conditions improve and physical distancing and other health requirements are adjusted in a way that would allow APS to resume in-person instruction for all students, we would reassess our operating status at that time.
What APS will do if health conditions worsen: We continue to monitor COVID-19 guidance from the CDC and state and local health officials on a daily basis. Our hybrid in-school model is contingent upon the school year beginning in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan. If health data and recommendations from the Arlington County Public Health Division necessitate closing schools, students and staff participating in the hybrid model will transition to full time distance learning similar in substance to the existing full time distance learning model which will include a blend of teacher-led/synchronous instruction and asynchronous instruction.
Do you think APS should change its plan for the fall?
Virginia started Phase 3 of its reopening on Wednesday, allowing more activity in indoor public spaces like restaurants and gyms.
While the Commonwealth remains one of just over a dozen states where the COVID-19 epidemic is in decline, some fear that further reopening could send us in the direction of Texas, Florida and other states currently seeing a virus resurgence.
In recent days, both Florida and Texas reversed course and closed bars. California, which has also seen a big jump in coronavirus cases, yesterday announced that it would “shutter indoor operations at restaurants, museums, bars and other venues” for at least three weeks. And New York is delaying its plans to reopen indoor restaurant dining rooms.
A growing body of research suggests that restaurants — indoor settings where where diners sit near one another and converse for extended periods of time — are fertile ground for coronavirus infections. More evidence of that from USA Today:
Money spent in restaurants and supermarkets could offer insight into how fast or slow the coronavirus pandemic may spread.
According to a note from Jesse Edgerton, an economist with JPMorgan Chase, the level of spending in restaurants three weeks ago – most notably in-person versus online – was the strongest predictor of a surge in coronavirus cases during that time period.
Based on spending by 30 million Chase credit and debit cardholders, Edgerton found that higher spending in supermarkets predicted a slower spread of the virus, suggesting consumers are practicing “more careful social distancing in a state.”
Outdoor settings, meanwhile, are believed to be safer, as the respiratory particles that spread the virus are quickly diluted in the open air. That’s why Virginia’s Phase 1 reopening included only outdoor dining and why Arlington has allowed restaurants to expand their outdoor dining areas.
Do you think Virginia should stay the course and see what happens, bring back Phase 2 restrictions, or try to preempt a possible resurgence by closing indoor dining areas altogether? That latter, while perhaps safer, could be a death knell for many already-struggling local restaurants, however.
This would usually be one of the busiest travel times of the year. Instead, airports have barely a quarter of the travellers as last year, and traffic maps are mostly a sea of green. The pandemic has affected nearly all aspects of normal life, including the willingness of people to leave one’s house and visit other places or people.
