Updated Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 7 a.m.
Since Thanksgiving weekend, the number of COVID-19 cases in Virginia and here in the Alexandria area have been on the rise.
Now, case numbers are are high as they were in January of this year. "Alexandria is experiencing a surge of COVID-19 infections, with the highest number of new cases in a single day since January," city officials reported Friday night.
Tuesday morning, the District of Columbia announced it was reinstating its indoor mask mandate in an effort to control the situation.
Wednesday morning, the Alexandria Health Dept. is convening a virtual meeting of business owners to discuss ways to mitigate the situation.
It's not clear yet if the cases here in Alexandria are caused by the relatively new omicron variant or the more established delta variant of this coronavirus. Even people who are fully vaccinated are getting "breakthrough" cases of COVID-19 locally.
Virginia Dept. of Health
"Based on a recent AHD analysis of November cases, unvaccinated people are 4 times more likely to get COVID-19, and 5 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to fully vaccinated people. However, with the significantly increased transmission rates, there is also a rise in cases among those who are fully vaccinated. Increases in hospitalizations and deaths typically lag a few weeks behind increases in cases and AHD is closely monitoring local hospital capacity and the use of ventilators. Regardless of vaccination status, everyone should take any symptoms seriously and get tested as soon as possible," city officials noted.
City officials suggested the following, as cases are likely to increase with holiday gatherings and travel.
- Consider moving your celebration virtual or limiting the different groups of people you’ll be spending time with in-person.
- Consider using a rapid home test for everyone before gathering.
- Avoid travel if possible.
- If travel is unavoidable, get tested before and after.
- Fully vaccinated individuals ages 16 and older should get a booster shot to increase protection against infections.
