COVID-19 prompted restrictions on personal grooming services for two months. Now with Virginia progressing with its phased reopening plan, people can get their hair cut or nails done professionally.
Today, Fairfax County entered the second phase of the reopening plan. Personal grooming services that have reopened are still by appointment-only under the Phase Two guidelines.
Personal care services were first allowed to reopen in the county on May 29. Currently, customers and employees must wear face coverings, and the businesses are limited to 50% capacity.
Let us know in the poll below if you’ve been to a salon, barber, spa, tanning salon and/or tattoo shop since the rollback started on the COVID-19 restrictions. If you have any interesting stories about haircuts at home, let us know in the comments section.
Photo by mostafa meraji/Unsplash
Chicabika Masks & More is hiring for its location in Tysons.
A Fairfax County permit indicates that Chicabika will be a mall cart in Tysons Corner Center.
The retailer posted a job application for a sales associate about two weeks ago on Indeed. The position pays $9-$10 per hour.
Tysons Corner Center does not have the retailer listed in its directory yet. The mall is open from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from noon-6 p.m. on Sundays.
Falls Church Eatery Facing Eviction — “The Falls Church location of Hot N Juicy Crawfish is staring down an eviction lawsuit filed on June 1… The governor of the commonwealth put a moratorium on evictions earlier this week, but it only applies to residential tenants. The family-run business now finds itself fighting for its future in the neighborhood.” [Washington City Paper]
Farmers Markets Are Back — The McLean Farmers Market opens today and the Vienna Farmers Market returns on Saturday. [Tysons Reporter]
It’s Almost Showtime — “Just last week, AMC Theatres said it had ‘substantial doubt’ that the company could keep operating if pandemic-related closures continued. However, the company announced Tuesday it expects to reopen almost all of its locations worldwide by mid-July.” [Patch]
Law Enforcement Legislation — “Lawmakers in Virginia will take up the issue of police reform when they meet in a special session later this summer. The legislature joins the growing ranks of jurisdictions in the Washington region that are planning on tackling an issue that has taken increased urgency in the wake of widespread national protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.” [DCist]
Test Backlog — “State health officials announced Monday that 13,000 test results backlogged at the health department will be added to data tables that are updated daily to reflect the number of COVID-19 tests and cases in the state. Staff had prioritized positive test results, according to the statement, so the backlog largely includes negative test results.” [Inside NoVa]
On Friday, Northern Virginia localities will head into the second phase of rolling back COVID-19 restrictions. The Town of Vienna shared today what people can expect.
Community events have been canceled through August, and the town plans to offer virtual programming this summer, like no- and low-touch summer camps starting July 6.
Here’s an overview of the town’s tentative changes:
- Town Hall reopens to the public July 6 (currently open by appointment only)
- Vienna Community Center reopens July 6
- playgrounds reopen Saturday (June 13)
- Teen Center, Bowman House, Freeman Store & Museum, Town Green rentals and basketball courts remain closed
Tomorrow, the park restrooms, tennis courts, the Vienna Dog Park and the Community Garden will reopen.
Town officials will continue to meet virtually under a continuity of governance ordinance with occupancy capped at 26 people in the Council Chambers.
A 1.2 million-square-foot development in Falls Church has a new name as it progresses through various approval stages by City Council.
Hoffman & Associates and EYA announced that they have named the upcoming gateway development to the northwestern end of the city “West Falls.”
“The name West Falls pays homage to the site’s location within The City of Falls Church known for its vibrant community and thoughtful urban design,” a press release said.
The development will include offices, a hotel, apartments, condominiums, retail space and senior housing spanning roughly 9.5 acres. It will also include approximately 1 acre of open space for the public.
West Falls is included in a 35-acre transformation to turn the area near the West Falls Church Metro station into a gateway for the city. As part of the larger plans, George Mason High School will be relocated.
In 2019, the City Council approved an agreement for a 99-year ground lease with the developers and a Special Exception Entitlement for the first phase of the project’s entitlement.
Earlier today, Hoffman and EYA submitted their Special Exception Site Plan (SESP) to the city — the latest step in the entitlements process, according to the press release.
Construction is expected to start on West Falls in late 2021, and the first phase of the development is anticipated to open in late 2023, according to the press release.
Image via City of Falls Church
On Tuesday, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors green-lighted a rezoning that will open parts of the Valo Park office complex up to the public.
Tamares, Valo Park’s owner, wants to add retailers and restaurants, renovate an existing rooftop terrace and open the complex’s current amenities, including a conference center, auditorium and fitness center, to the public. Tamares is considering attracting a rooftop craft brewery atop a parking garage.
“It is anticipated that these proposed changes will help to sustain the current Class A office use and energize this part of Tysons after business hours,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said.
A separate comprehensive sign plan for the project was approved by the Planning Commission in May. Some McLean residents raised concerns about light pollution from the signs.
Currently, the office park (7950 Jones Branch Drive) is home to the headquarters of newspaper giant Gannett and cloud computing company Appian.
The Valo Park changes will now join upcoming changes to urbanize Tysons’ North Central neighborhood, which currently has the Park Crest and Highgate residential buildings.
Last summer, the Board of Supervisors approved the massive, mixed-use development called The Mile, which will transform 38 acres into 10 buildings with residential, retail, office, hotel and storage space, along with six parks spanning more than 10 acres.
Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said that people can now walk to Valo Park thanks to the new Jones Branch Connector, which includes sidewalks and bike lanes.
“But for the sign issue… this is a really good application that is exactly moving Tysons in the direction that we all want to see it go — developing this kind of mixed-use, reuse,” Foust said. “This is a really important piece in the Tysons puzzle.”
Park Party Is Over — “A video supplied by a local resident showed throngs of bathing-suit-clad youths cavorting and whooping it up and swigging alcohol at the park’s scenic waterfall… Fairfax County Park Authority officials are beefing up police presence at [Scotts Run Nature Preserve], and authorities soon will be prohibiting parking along Georgetown Pike and some nearby neighborhood streets.” [Inside NoVa]
Empty Offices — “Many companies in the county are likely to shrink their footprints to account for increased remote work, according to surveys the FCEDA has tracked, while others that may have been considering a move to Fairfax have put those searches on hold, [Victor] Hoskins said. The county’s office vacancy rate stood at 13.9% at the end of 2019, according to the county’s 2021 budget plan.” [Washington Business Journal]
Vienna Hit With Power Outage — Thunderstorms last night swept across Northern Virginia. Dominion Energy has now resolved a power outage that was affecting over 1,700 customers around 8 p.m. in the Vienna area. It was caused by a circuit outage, according to Dominion. [Dominion Energy]
ICYMI: Protest Held in McLean — “Hundreds of people chanted and marched in a Black Lives Matter protest led by six McLean High School students on Wednesday.” [Tysons Reporter]
Join our Executive Director @LJCarbonneau for this Community Conversation on how the arts & cultural organizations in the Tysons area are planning in this uncertain environment. @TysonsVAPatch @mcleanvacenter @TysonsReporter @sungazettenews @DranesvilleSup @artsfairfax https://t.co/Z9re3W3thV
— McLeanProjectForArts (@MP4A) June 10, 2020
(Updated 9:15 a.m.) Hundreds of people chanted and marched in a Black Lives Matter protest led by six McLean High School students on Wednesday.
The protest kicked off around 2 p.m. in the parking lot of McLean High School with passionate speeches from students across Fairfax County and local elected officials calling on students and adults to fight racism.
“It’s kind of crazy I have to tell people I shouldn’t be killed, but here we are,” one student speaker said, later adding: “I don’t want my last words to be, ‘Don’t shoot.'” I want them to be, ‘We did it.'”
The speeches touched on a common theme: the fervor of youth activism.
“Our generation is the one that is going to change the world for the better,” Kendall J., a rising senior at McLean High School, told the crowd. Speakers encouraged parents to better support their kids’ activism.
People with voter registration forms circulated the crowd, encouraging teens about to turn 18 to vote in the upcoming elections.
For safety precautions due to the coronavirus pandemic, participants tried to social distance by spacing themselves out in the parking lot. Face coverings were required, and an organizer cleaned the microphone between each speaker.
Participants shouted chants like “No justice! No peace! No racist police!” and “Black Lives Matter!” At one point, the participants responded to a prompt of saying “I love you” to the people standing closest to them.
After a short prayer moment, the protesters took to the streets, flooding Clearview Drive around 4 p.m. “There are so many people here,” one of the organizers said into his walkie talkie as the march began.
“No justice. No peace. No racist police,” a young child with an adult on the corner of Westmoreland Street and Clearview Drive said as the march headed northbound on Westmoreland Street. Several drivers honked and waved in support.
Tysons Reporter witnessed a moment that punctured the peaceful and passionate protest: a white male driving by the protesters on Westmoreland Street shouted out his window that all lives matter and that they should “cut the bullsh*t.”
The protest was one of several anti-racism events in the Tysons area sparked by George Floyd’s death and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Like several protests and rallies in Falls Church, the McLean protest drew a diverse crowd spanning different generations and races.
— Catherine Douglas Moran (@c_douglasmoran) June 10, 2020
Owners of CrossFit gyms in the Tysons area are distancing themselves from an insensitive tweet by CrossFit’s CEO.
Greg Glassman, the CEO, recently apologized for saying “It’s FLOYD-19” in response to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s tweet calling racism a public health issue, according to BET.
Reebok and several CrossFit athletes have since cut ties with the branded fitness regimen because of the tweet, and hundreds of gyms across the U.S. have disaffiliated from CrossFit over the tweet, according to reports from Forbes and People.
Tysons Reporter reached out to CrossFit gyms located in Vienna, Falls Church and Tysons. Six of them have denounced Glassman’s tweet.
The staff behind the CrossFit Tysons Corner (8453-K Tyco Road) told Tysons Reporter in an email that they do not condone Glassman’s statements. “We are exploring options for de-affiliation,” the email said.
Curtis Blake of CrossFit Falls Church (130 W. Jefferson Street) said that its members are aware of the gym’s stance.
“I was deeply saddened by the insensitivity that was shown and/or the malice in Glassman’s post,” Blake told Tysons Reporter. “I would like to see him step down and a change in leadership before we personally [make] a decision.” Blake declined to comment further.
CrossFit Route 7 (8504-B Tyco R0ad) and CrossFit North Vienna (234 Dominion Road NE) — a.k.a. the Phoenix Athletix Club — both shared on social media that they do not support Glassman’s comments.
“At this point, we do not know exactly what the next steps look like for the gym,” CrossFit Route 7 said in its Facebook post.
Meanwhile, CrossFit Fairfax (2831 Dorr Ave) wrote on Facebook that it will honor the Black Lives Matter movement on Saturday, June 13, but did not include a direct mention of Glassman’s tweet.
“Racism and discrimination have no place in our gym, the broader fitness community, or the world at large,” the post said.
Marcus Ford of Tinner Hill CrossFit (336 S. Washington Street) said that the gym took to Facebook yesterday to reaffirm the location’s beliefs.
“I simply wanted to iterate to our extended community that we are steadfast in our beliefs, have always and will always operate without discrimination,” Ford told Tysons Reporter. “We openly welcome ALL people with no concern for race, religion, gender(s), sexualities or otherwise.”
Ford said that the incident “called into question the beliefs of CrossFit affiliates all over the world, and I personally and professionally felt the need to remind our community that no matter what methodology we use for fitness, we are resolute in the principles we’ve been known for by our community.”
The location is still a CrossFit gym, “however only time will tell what the future may hold for us in terms of affiliation,” Ford said.
Photo via CrossFit Tysons Corner/Facebook
As Northern Virginia localities prepare for the second reopening phase on Friday, here’s what people can expect.
Northern Virginia and the City of Richmond delayed entering phase two when the rest of Virginia started the phase last Friday (June 5). Gov. Ralph Northam said that trends of COVID-19 data indicate that Northern Virginia is ready for the next phase.
Here’s a snapshot of the phase two guidelines:
- “safer at home” guidance, telework encouraged
- face coverings required in indoor public places
- social gathering maximum raised from 10 to 50
- restaurants can have indoor dining at 50% occupancy
- fitness centers can open indoor spaces at 30% occupancy
- indoor and outdoor swimming pools can open
- still closed: overnight summer camps, indoor entertainment venues, amusement parks, fairs and carnivals
Museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and outdoor concerts, sports and performing arts venues may open with some restrictions as long as they don’t have shared equipment.
“All businesses should still adhere to physical distancing guidelines, frequently clean and sanitize high contact surfaces, and continue enhanced workplace safety measures,” the plan says.
Meanwhile, phase two continues current guidelines for religious services, non-essential retail and personal grooming services, according to the plan.
School Schedule
Northam also unveiled yesterday his phased plan to reopen K-12 schools.
“I know that parents are very interested in our plans for how to safely return children to our classrooms,” Northam said.
Previously, Northam closed schools on March 23 for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. “I believe these closures have helped mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” he said.
Northam said that the plan will let schools “slowly” offer in-person classes for the summer and 2020-2021 school year.
“We’ll start with small groups, and we will allow each school division the flexibility that it needs to respond to the needs of its own locality,” Northam said, adding that the plan provides schools with options instead of serving as a mandate.
In every phase, the schools must follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including daily health screenings of students and staff, remote learning and working options for high-risk students and staff, required face coverings for staff — and encourage used for students — when social distancing isn’t an option.
More about the plan from Northam’s website:
The K-12 phased reopening plan was developed by the Office of the Secretary of Education, Virginia Department of Health, and the Virginia Department of Education and is informed by guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
All PreK-12 schools in Virginia will be required to deliver new instruction to students for the 2020-2021 academic year, regardless of the operational status of school buildings. The PreK-12 guidance is aligned with the phases outlined in the Forward Virginia blueprint and provides opportunities for school divisions to begin offering in-person instruction to specific student groups…
Local school divisions will have discretion on how to operationalize within each phase and may choose to offer more limited in-person options than the phase permits, if local public health conditions necessitate. Entry into each phase is dependent on public health gating criteria, corresponding with the Forward Virginia plan. School divisions will have flexibility to implement plans based on the needs of their localities, within the parameters of the Commonwealth’s guidance.
The opportunities for in-person instruction in each phase are as follows:
- Phase One: special education programs and child care for working families
- Phase Two: Phase One plus preschool through third-grade students, English learners, and summer camps in school buildings
- Phase Three: all students may receive in-person instruction as can be accommodated with strict social distancing measures in place, which may require alternative schedules that blend in-person and remote learning for students
- Beyond Phase Three: divisions will resume “new-normal” operations under future guidance
Beginning with Phase Two, local divisions and private schools must submit plans to the Virginia Department of Education that include policies and procedures for implementing Virginia Department of Health and CDC mitigation strategies.
State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver, MD, MA has issued an Order of Public Health Emergency that requires all Virginia PreK-12 public and private schools to develop plans that demonstrate adherence to public health guidance. Public schools must also outline plans to offer new instruction to all students regardless of operational status.
Graph via Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam
