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.
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.
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.
Staying home is a good defense against Covid, but what if your home is full of mold? The Alexandria Health Department is recruiting 50 city residents with respiratory issues to participate in a free air quality pilot study, and is offering them $100 in gift cards.
The Alexandria Air Cleaning Evaluation for Healthier Homes pilot is based on the premise that many residents in underserved areas live in conditions that “actively harm their well-being.”
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.
Alexandria’s Pat Malone will stand up to cancer for 24 hours straight starting this Thursday (Feb. 10) at Fire Works Pizza in Arlington.
The event starts at 4:26 p.m. Thursday and ends at the same time on Friday.
The number of positive Covid cases continues to go down in Alexandria, as officials say that the latest wave of Omicron cases will recede within a month.
While cases have gone down for the third straight week, numbers are still historically high.
George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates (GW MFA) has opened up a new primary care office at 1500 N. Beauregard Street, suite 100, near the Mark Center.
“GW Primary Care is excited to provide care to the entire Alexandria, Virginia community,” GW MFA said on its website. “From the Old Town Waterfront to Alexandria’s West End, we are committed to improving the lives of our patients through quality and equitable health care.”
Alexandria City Public Schools received 88,000 KN95 face masks for all students and staff last week, not long after newly installed Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order removing face mask mandates in public schools.
Alexandria, along with Arlington and Fairfax County, defied that order and are still requiring students, staff and visitors wear masks indoors. The Alexandria City High School athletic department has also reinstituted mask wearing during practices and competition.
Alexandria’s Covid numbers are going down, but the numbers of new reported cases continues to rise by the hundreds on a daily basis.
There have been 26,907 total cases reported by the Virginia Department of Health as of today (Monday, Jan. 18), and the number of deaths has climbed by two since last week to 163. Sunday, Jan. 17, saw the the fewest single day number of cases reported so far this year with 191 new cases.
The Alexandria City Council will likely extend the city’s state of emergency from the end of January to June 30, 2022. Tuesday night’s (Jan. 11) vote will be the fifth extension of the declaration since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The declaration, which was first approved by Council in March 2020, has been continually updated, and finds that “the emergency continues to exist and will exist into the future.”
