Wearing face masks in government buildings is now optional in Alexandria, as nearly two years of the pandemic restriction winds to a close.

The decision, which was announced on March 1, comes after new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave Alexandria and its neighboring jurisdictions a “Low” community level of transmission.

“Effective immediately, wearing a mask is not required in most settings, but individuals may choose to do so at any time,” the city said in a release. “As a result of this new guidance from the CDC and Alexandria Health Department, use of masks by visitors to City of Alexandria government facilities is now optional. Effective immediately, visitors are encouraged to continue to wear a mask indoors based on their personal preference, as informed by their personal level of risk.”

Alexandria will still require masks in health care and congregate settings when the city has substantial or high community transmission.

There have been 29,734 reported Covid cases in the city, an increase of 153 cases since this time last week. The death toll remains at 183. The numbers have dropped in the last several weeks, going from a record-setting 12,822 positive cases in January to 1,227 cases in February.

Masks are also now optional within Alexandria City Public Schools, where there have been 593 cases reported since Dec. 1. The numbers don’t add up, though, since ACPS reports 509 total student cases and 102 total staff cases.

Vaccine stats

• There are 24,924 unvaccinated Alexandria residents
• About 76% of residents (116,308 people) are fully vaccinated
• 84% (128,956 people) of residents have gotten at least one dose
• 57,108 residents have gotten booster shots

Find vaccine providers in Alexandria here. If you feel sick, get tested.

The hour-long presentation at Alexandria City High School focused on new programs to offer free associate degrees to Alexandria City High School graduates, improving graduation rates for Hispanic males and sticking to the ACPS 2025 Equity For All Strategic Plan. The speech did not focus on more controversial issues, such as Covid-related mandates or public safety issues within the school system.

“Our strategic plan takes us through 2025 and I know it sounds like it’s far away, but we’re already in 2022,” Hutchings said. “And we will still have much to accomplish to fulfill all of these accomplishments.”

Hutchings said ACPS is being liberal in its approach to absenteeism during the pandemic.

“Some of our students are really being faced with a lot of trauma,” Hutching said. “It is our responsibility to make sure that we are providing the social and emotional supports for our students. And we’re doing that through our counseling services within our buildings. So, we’re going to continue to have social workers working with our families. We will continue to do school visits, and our administrative teams and staff will continue working with families who are experiencing truancy.”

By 2024, Alexandria City Public Schools will begin offering a “cradle-to-career” program to Alexandria City High School freshmen, where they will take specific dual enrollment courses to earn a free associate’s degree from Northern Virginia Community College by the time they graduate. The program is being done in partnership with NOVA, George Mason University and Virginia Tech. Hutchings said that the associate’s degree pathways under consideration include information technology, psychology, business information technology, engineering, biology, and education.

“This results in a NOVA associate’s degree that will not only be given when they graduate from Alexandria City High School, but it will align for full transferability to both partnering four-year universities, and that’s George Mason University and Virginia Tech,” Hutchings said.

Hutchings said that the beginning of this school year was unusual and challenging. Without getting specific, he said ACPS needs to make progress on improving graduation rates for Hispanic males and said that a division-wide early warning indicator system is in the second phase of development.

The system “utilizes key performance indicators to proactively engage intervention for students placed at risk of experiencing poor academic outcomes,” Hutchings said.

Hutchings also announced that ACPS will also release its second Equity For All Climate Survey to families, staff, and students in grades 6-12 on March 11.

“We have made progress and yet are mindful that it’s there’s still much work to be done,” he said. “Our team and our students have shown great resilience throughout the past two years and I am encouraged by the progress that we’ve made so far to dismantle some of our racial inequities and to meet the individual needs of our students.”

Alexandria City Public Schools told students in today’s morning announcements to respect the decisions of their peers who choose to not wear face masks in schools or on buses.

Senate Bill 739 went into effect today, allowing for Virginia parents to elect to opt their children out of mask wearing — reversing course on a rule that has been in effect since the beginning days of the pandemic in 2020.

“I would say 95% (of students) are wearing them,” an Alexandria City High School student told ALXnow. “They said on the announcements to respect people’s decisions.”

ACPS staff are asking that parents consider asking their kids to wear masks in periods of high or substantial transmission. Staff are still required to wear face masks, and the school system will continue to provide KN95 face masks for students and staff upon request.

“To the extent possible, we are asking our families to consider the level of community transmission,” Julie Crawford, ACPS chief of student services and equity, told the Board last week. “We also want to acknowledge that this could be a period of anxiety for our families and our students. We’ve been sharing with them for the last almost two years that maskings help to protect you and protect those around you, and this will be a big transition in our schools.”

Some School Board members were not happy with the legislation.

“We still want you to wear a mask, it’s just we can’t enforce it,” Member Rahman Elnoubi said. “We’re not doing this because we don’t want you to wear a mask anymore. We’re doing this because we have to because we want to abide by the law.”

Board Member Michelle Rief said that the decision to go mask-less is really now up to individual students.

“It almost is also leaving it up to the students in some ways,” Rief said. “I mean, unless their parents are giving them really clear directions on Tuesday.”

In the meantime, the School Board is not backing down in a lawsuit against Governor Glenn Youngkin’s executive order removing face mask mandates in public schools. Shortly after taking office in Jauary, Youngkin issued an executive order removing face mask mandates in public schools. Alexandria, along with Arlington and Fairfax County, defied that order.

The case is still pending in the Arlington Circuit Court.

After nearly two years of the pandemic in Alexandria, Mayor Justin Wilson says it is now time to turn the corner against COVID-19.

In his monthly newsletter, Wilson wrote that more than 80% of city residents have been vaccinated, more than a third have gotten booster shots and anyone can get a vaccine who wants one.

Wilson said that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s newest determination that the city’s transmission level is “Low” is not a reason to immediately get back to normal. The Virginia Department of Health didn’t go that far, and only upgraded the city’s transmission level from “High” to “Substantial.”

There have been 29,581 reported cases of Covid in the city and 183 deaths, according VDH. Numbers have dropped in the last several weeks, going from a record-setting 12,822 positive cases in January to 1,227 cases in February.

“It is now time to turn the corner,” Wilson wrote. “At a time where our community needed heroes, heroes have emerged from every corner of our City.”

Wilson added, “We have seen our brave healthcare workers and public health employees risk everything to keep our community safe. We have seen dedicated public servants ceaselessly serve our community, even at risk to themselves and their families. We have seen the essential workers keeping our supermarkets open, our restaurants functioning, our pharmacies and retailers available, our hospitals cleaned and our public transit running.”

Alexandria has seen nearly 30,000 residents contract Covid, while 184 residents have died so far and the city remains in a state of emergency until June 30.

Wilson will conduct his monthly virtual town hall meeting on Thursday (March 4) at 8 p.m.

Alexandria, Fairfax County and Arlington now have low Covid transmission levels, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC’s last update on community levels was on Feb. 25. The Virginia Department of Health still lists the city’s transmission rate as high, although the categorization has not been updated since Feb. 19. Alexandria has experienced high transmission since December.

There are 29,434 total reported cases in Alexandria, an increase of 130 cases since last week. There have been four more COVID-related deaths, bringing the death toll in the city to 184.

There have been 1,227 new Covid cases in February — a far cry from January, which saw a record-setting 12,822 positive cases.

The seven day average of new cases is now 20, down from 29 last week, and the seven-day average of positive COVID-19 tests is now 5.7%, down from 6.5%.

Alexandria City Public Schools reports a total of 582 cases since December 1 (up 10 cases since last week), although the number of infected staff and students adds up to 599.

Vaccine stats

• There are 25,161 unvaccinated Alexandria residents
• About 75% of residents (116,047 people) are fully vaccinated
• 84% (128,719 people) of residents have gotten at least one dose
• 126,478 residents have gotten booster shots

Find vaccine providers in Alexandria here. If you feel sick, get tested.

Today @CDCgov released new guidance to measure and respond to COVID risk.

Thanks to our healthcare/public health workers, volunteers and essential workers, Alexandria today has a "Low" community level.

Our staff is evaluating (and will announce) how this impacts current policy. pic.twitter.com/6Z4xtJt0pJ

— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) February 25, 2022

Alexandria’s DASH bus service is headed back to regular service after the omicron surge of COVID-19 forced the bus system to operate with a reduced schedule.

DASH scaled back its weekday bus service in December, with many lines operating on the reduced weekend hours and frequency.

“All DASH buses will resume regular weekday service beginning Monday, Feb. 28,” the service said in a press release. “The Alexandria Transit Company, which operates the DASH bus system, temporarily adjusted service schedules in January due to COVID-19 related staffing shortages.”

While DASH has recovered enough to resume normal service, the release did say that DASH continues to face a shortage of transit workers and bus operators and will continue monitoring ridership and staffing to make changes as needed.

Despite the omicron-related hurdle, DASH ridership has gradually been climbing back to pre-pandemic levels.

“We are excited to resume regular weekday service because it provides greater bus frequency to Alexandria,” said DASH General Manager/CEO Josh Baker. “Thank you to our riders and our community for weathering these challenges with us.”

The rapid decline in Covid cases continues in Alexandria, but the transmission level remains high, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

There were 14 were cases of COVID-19 reported in the city today, according to VDH. That’s the lowest number of new daily cases since November 29, 2021, when 13 cases were reported.

The latest numbers

Alexandria saw a record-setting 12,822 positive COVID cases in January, and cases have dropped drastically over the last five consecutive weeks. This month, there have been 1,132 new cases.

There have been four more COVID-related deaths, bringing the death toll to 180.

There have been 29,434  total reported cases in Alexandria, an increase of 130 cases since last week. The seven day average of new cases is now 29, down from 77 last week. The seven-day average of positive COVID-19 tests is now 6.5%, down from 12.4% last week.

Additionally, Alexandria City Public Schools reports a total of 572 cases since December 1, although the number of infected staff and students adds up to 589.

The Alexandria Health Department is also recommending a fourth shot for immunocompromised residents who have received a booster shot.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released interim guidance clarifying that people with a weakened immune system (immunocompromised) who received an mRNA vaccine from Moderna and Pfizer should receive a COVID-19 booster dose three months after they complete their initial series of three doses, for a total of four doses,” AHD said in a release. “For immunocompromised people who received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, additional doses are strongly recommended.”

Vaccine stats

• There are 25,417 unvaccinated Alexandria residents
• About 75% of residents (115,700 people) are fully vaccinated
• 84% (128,463 people) of residents have gotten at least one dose
• 56,208 residents have gotten booster shots

Find vaccine providers in Alexandria here. If you feel sick, get tested.

Alexandria teen shot to death in D.C. — “According to a news release from D.C. police, officers responded to reports of a shooting in the unit block of Chesapeake Street in Southeast D.C. around 8:09 p.m., where they located Francis suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in a parked car.” [Alex Times]

Alexandria Schools start ‘Test to Stay’ program — “The new program will allow some students to return to school following five days of quarantine under a variety of conditions.” [Alexandria Living]

8 new and must-do black history experiences in Alexandria — “From a self-taught mathematician who mapped out the nation’s capital to abolitionist sisters who partnered with Frederick Douglass to the first Black player in the NBA, African American changemakers have shaped the history of Alexandria, VA and the United States.” [Visit Alexandria]

BoomChicky, ALX Pizza join Bee Street Eats — “The Beeliner Diner is open for take-out and delivery with a limited menu — but while eager diners await a full opening, there are more treats to try.” [Alexandria Living]

New job: Government relations manager — “The Vision Council (TVC) seeks an individual to lead the association’s advocacy to state and federal policymakers on issues importance to the optical industry and our members.” [Indeed]

Today’s weather: “Occasional light rain. High 64F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%… Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers later at night. Low 62F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.” [Weather.com]

Regardless of a reporting inaccuracy by the Virginia Department of Health, Alexandria’s Covid numbers are still going down.

VDH identified 220 cases that were “inaccurately auto-generated duplicated in the case reporting system,” which is why there were 19 cases reported on Feb. 6, 20 cases on Feb. 7 and 43 cases on Feb. 8 — all sharp contrasts to the hundreds of daily cases being reported the previous week. Additionally, three deaths from January were also added to the city’s death toll, which now stands at 176.

“These cases have been removed from Alexandria’s total case numbers, causing the case counts on February 6-8 to appear artificially low on Virginia Department of Health and City of Alexandria dashboards,” according to the Alexandria Health Department.

There have been 29,204 total reported cases in Alexandria, an increase of 366 cases since this time last week. The seven day average of daily new cases is now 52, down from 77 last week.

There is one set of numbers unaffected by the inaccuracy is the seven-day average of positive COVID-19 tests, which is is also significantly down — now 8.8%, down from 12.4% last week and 15.7% two weeks ago.

There have also been 538 cases reported within Alexandria City Public Schools since Dec. 1, an increase of 32 cases since last week. Of those cases, 460 are students and 92 are staff.

Every locality in Virginia is now experiencing high transmission. Alexandria went from “Substantial” to “High” transmission in December.

Vaccine stats

• There are 25,964 unvaccinated Alexandria residents
• About 75% of residents (115,078 people) are fully vaccinated
• 83% (127,916 people) of residents have gotten at least one dose
• 55,535 residents have gotten booster shots

Find vaccine providers in Alexandria here. If you feel sick, get tested.

Covid cases continue to recede in Alexandria for the fourth straight week, and local pharmacies are now giving out free adult N95 face masks as part of a new federal program.

There were also seven news deaths reported since this time last week, bringing the death toll from the virus to 172.

The new face masks can be found at the same pharmacies that provide free COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Alexandria Health Department.

There have been 28,838 total reported cases in Alexandria, an increase of 536 cases since this time last week. The seven day average of daily new cases is now 77, down from 84.5 this time last week. The seven-day average of positive COVID-19 tests is now 12.4%, down from 15.7% last week.

The city’s transmission rate went from “Substantial” to “High” in December.

Fluctuating ACPS numbers

There have also been 506 cases reported within Alexandria City Public Schools since Dec. 1, of which 434 are children and 85 are staff, although the numbers listed on the school system’s new dashboard have proved unreliable.

• Last week the dashboard listed 523 cases systemwide with 202 student infections and 46 infected staffers since Dec. 1
• Two weeks ago, ACPS reported 930 cases since Dec. 1, with 288 infected children and 620 infected staffers

Vaccine stats

• There are 26,907 unvaccinated Alexandria residents
• About 74% of residents (114,195 people) are fully vaccinated
• 83% (126,973) of residents have gotten at least one dose
• As of Feb. 4, 53,396 residents have gotten a booster shot

Find vaccine providers in Alexandria here. If you feel sick, get tested.