Note: Friday afternoon, May 8, Gov. Ralph Northam provided additional details about the first phase of Virginia's reopening plan. Read that story here.
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Updated Saturday, May 9, 3:10 p.m.
Northern Virginia is in one of two areas in the state where there are higher rates of coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents than other regions, according to an analysis of Virginia Dept. of Health data.
In Alexandria, long-term care facilities are pushing numbers up. Eight of Alexandria's nine long-term care facilities have had outbreaks (at least two people infected). These facilities account for more than half of Alexandria's 29 deaths caused by COVID-19 illnesses.
On Thursday afternoon, Mayor Justin Wilson sent Gov. Ralph Northam a letter requesting more detailed information about Alexandria's cases, recognizing the difficult balance between patient privacy and public health.
More information about our local cases would allow Alexandria officials to make more informed decisions about the safety of reopening businesses.
"We understand that the Virginia Dept. of Health has interpreted 32-1-38 f the Code of Virginia to preclude public disclosure of specific locations of virus outbreaks at Long-Term Care Facilities. We do not believe such secrecy serves the families served by those facilities, the staff serving in those facilities, nor the public interest," Mayor Wilson wrote. (See the full letter here.)
Here in Northern Virginia, many of the cases are coming from nursing homes and other long-term care facilities not just in Alexandria but in other jurisdictions, as well.
As is common in other parts of the country, such facilities have faced unique challenges in containing the virus and preventing its spread among a particularly vulnerable population.
Cases on the Upswing
The City of Alexandria and Arlington County have added close to 200 confirmed cases each of COVID-19 since April 30. Fairfax County has added more than 1,000 cases in that time.
On a population basis, the City of Alexandria has 612 cases per 100,000. Arlington County has 492 cases per 100,000 and Fairfax County has 420 cases per 100,000 people.
The only other parts of the state with higher case loads per 100,000 are along the Eastern Shore (where meat-processing facilities are at the center or outbreaks). Richmond and Virginia Beach have case rates per 100,000 similar to Fairfax County. Fairfax County's cases are also seeing "exponential growth" — and long-term care facilities are one of the causes there, as well.
Thursday, Fairfax County officials released a statement with three reasons why cases in the Fairfax Healthcare District are on the upswing:
There are three primary reasons why, according to County officials:
- Significant community-wide transmission happening in our region, which means more people are getting sick and in turn infecting others. This is true in every part of our health district, but especially in congregate settings like nursing homes and assisted living facilities, where clusters of cases can occur quickly. The Health Department has been proactively deploying public health teams to local facilities to prevent and mitigate disease spread.
- Commercial lab capacity continues to increase and more testing means more cases documented. Our daily case counts reflect the number of results received from labs in a 24-hour period that are investigated and entered in the state’s electronic reporting system. So as testing increases through commercial labs, we expect to see an increase in the number of batches of cases being reported to the Health Department each day.
- What is counted by public health as a COVID-19 case has changed. Before, you needed a positive COVID-19 laboratory test to be counted as a case. Based on new guidance from our federal and state public health partners, patients diagnosed clinically by their doctor because of their symptoms and a known exposure to COVID-19, but whose illness was not confirmed with a positive test, are also counted as a case. So our case counts now reflect both laboratory-confirmed and “probable” cases.
Northam's Reopening Plan 'Forward Virginia'
Gov. Northam announced Wednesday that he will allow localities to set their own, stricter rules around health and safety, even if that means delaying plans to reopen businesses in some places while other areas of the state move forward. Northam will still have final say on localities’ decisions, but localities will have the option to request additional restrictions during this first phase of reopening.
On Monday, Gov. Northam outlined a plan for reopening Virginia's businesses and recreation to get people back to work while trying to maintain hospital capacity and more. At the time, he said he would be managing the process statewide to avoid creating areas of "haves and have nots" and avoid fanning divisiveness among residents.
But late Wednesday, Gov. Northam reversed course. The Richmond Times Dispatch reported:
Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday that the guidelines for a phased reopening of the state will serve as a “floor” for localities — meaning they can impose stricter restrictions — after rejecting a regional approach two days earlier.
Northam said localities seeing more COVID-19 cases might need to delay lifting some of the statewide restrictions on public gatherings he plans to relax starting May 15.
“We realized that the greater Washington area is an area we need to pay particular attention to,” Northam said.
Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson is hosting a virtual town hall Thursday, May 7, at 8 p.m. via Facebook live. You do not need a Facebook account to watch the broadcast. He will be taking questions from residents. Tune in here.
See also:
How Salons, Retailers are Preparing to Reopen
