The number of COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County is reaching the 2,000 mark.
According to state health data released this morning, there are now 1,925 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Fairfax County. The county hit a little over 1,000 cases just eight days ago.
For the last three days, the growth rate of cases has hovered between 6%-10%.
The number of cases between Sunday and today (Monday) jumped by roughly 6%, adding a total of 116 new cases. Between Saturday and Sunday, that jump was about 11%.
In recent days, the state has released more data on hospitalizations, deaths and outbreaks. So far, there at 8,990 cases of COVID-19 statewide and 300 people have died, including at least 30 Fairfax County residents.
The deadliest of statewide outbreaks have occurred at long term care facilities. According to state data, 915 cases have been linked to outbreaks in these facilities, leading to 77 deaths.
So far, the week of April 5 resulted in the most number of new cases (2,268). The cumulative count of cases continues to increase daily at generally faster rates than the last month.
Data via Virginia Department of Health
Unemployment claims due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic continue to pour in.
Nearly 14,500 Fairfax County residents filed unemployment claims on the week of April 11, according to the latest unemployment data.
Overall, the number of statewide claims between March 21 and April 11 — 410,762 — is only 67,000 fewer than the average of all initial claims filed during the last three economic recessions, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. More than 121,000 Northern Virginia residents have filed claims since business closures began.
The latest claims figure, however, represents a decrease of 42,750 statewide claims and 6,848 countywide claims from the previous week, according to data from the commission.
The commission noted that the overall 29 percent decrease in the number of claims suggests that most people filed unemployment claims during the week of April 4.
Here’s more from the commission:
Initial claims measure emerging unemployment and the recent increase in initial claims in the Commonwealth is clearly attributable to impacts from the COVID-19 virus. The accommodation and food service industries have comprised the majority of these initial claims. Because of their prevalence in those and other affected industries like retail and health care, younger workers and female workers have been disproportionally impacted. The number of initial claims filed during the week ending April 11, 2020 was 45.6 times higher than the comparable 2019 week-an increase of 102,326 claims.
Despite a dip in the number of claims, the commission noted that claims still remain at historically high levels.
On the national level, the number of initial claims has totaled roughly 5.2 million, a decrease of 1.4 million from the previous week. During a comparable week in 2019, only 196,364 claims were filed countrywide.
Image via Virginia Employment Commission
Fairfax County school board members expressed major dismay over the botched rollout of the school system’s first week of distance learning, including security issues and technical problems with Blackboard’s system.
At an online meeting today (Thursday), school officials acknowledged the school’s leadership failed to ensure adequate security measures were in place when students and teachers logged on to online sessions.
Teacher-led distance learning was canceled this week due to technical issues the school system is working to resolve.
FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand told the school board today that the issues have been two-fold: capacity and load issues on Blackboard’s end and failures to implement and monitor security protocol by FCPS.
Security Issues
Sloan Presidio, the school system’s assistant superintendent for instructional services, described security issues as a “leadership failure.”
“We failed to properly train the staff,” Presidio said, adding that the school’s leadership did not communicate how teachers should properly set up online sessions and make sure security settings were in place.
In some cases, students were able to set up and run unmonitored chat sessions that were not seen by moderators. Some students were able to log on with fake names and upload inappropriate photos.
“We absolutely share the concern and the dismay at some of the behavior that was reported,” Tim Tomlinson, Blackboard’s chief product officer, said. “It’s unconscionable.”
Although instructors were given guidance on how to maintain security and set up online sessions, school officials said the information was not properly disseminated. Once school officials were made aware of security issues, additional guidance on security was provided.
School board member Megan McLaughlin said she was “shocked” the 10th largest school system in the country did not conduct load testing prior to the launch of the system.
“There is no getting around it,” McLaughlin said.
Blackboard Problems
In addition to security challenges, the system experience log-in issues on the first day of learning, following by problems associated with Blackboard’s servers. The Reston-based company is working on upgrades to the system to resolve ongoing issues.
Tomlinson said that Blackboard “had no indication that these problems would occur” and shared a statement from the company apologizing for the disruption.
“We are working with FCPS to require students to log in to the FCPS 24-7 site and authenticate their identity before they are permitted to join a virtual classroom,” according to the Blackboard statement.
Tomlinson also noted that FCPS chose not to update its software for three years to the latest system. Seven updates were publicly available but not applied, he said.
But Maribeth Luftglass, assistant superintendent of the school system’s department of information technology, noted that the school system was never told those upgrades were required for performance purposes, especially prior to the launch of distance learning. She also added that the system was due for a planned upgrade this June.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic hit locally, the school system had plans in place to replace Blackboard Learn, a virtual learning environment, with Schoology, another distance learning tool operated by PowerSchool Unified Classroom, over the next two years.
The school system hopes to pilot the system in the fall.
School Board Responds
School board members also questioned why distance learning proceeded if there was indication there were technical problems prior the launch. Several of the members urged FCPS to consider learning alternatives, like resources from Google.
“If Blackboard can’t handle this, lets try Google” Laura Jane Cohen, who represents the Springfield District. “Everyone has worked too hard to make this happen.”
According to the presentation, less than half of the teachers have Google Classroom sites, which could be used as a learning supplement.
“There would be significant teacher training required and additional workload on teachers to create these sites,” the presentation said. “Additionally, Google Classroom is not linked to the student information system and teachers would have to manually create courses.”
The presentation notes that students and teachers have equal permissions on Google Meet, which could let students override teacher content, and that guest access is allowed.
“Additionally, Google engineers expressed concern about handling the volume of FCPS users,” the presentation said.
Other school board members said a two-hour delay in instructor-led learning on Wednesday was not communicated effectively to the school community.
Brabrand apologized for not making the “right call” when he called for the two-hour delay.
“We could have communicated it better,” Brabrand said, adding that his mistake “caused undue confusion for our teachers and our principals.”
Next Steps
Blackboard is currently working on software patches this week to address the capacity issues behind the login difficulties, Luftglass said.
On April 14, Blackboard Learn and Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, a real-time video conferencing tool, were linked with a new feature that will only allow students enrolled in a class to join the class session and ban guest access, school officials said. Additionally, a back-up plan is being developed using Collaborate Ultra, they said.
FCPS aims to resume its synchronous learning on April 20.
Catherine Douglas Moran contributed reporting
Image via FCPS
The first week of distance learning for roughly 189,000 Fairfax County Public School students has been off to a rough start.
Technical issues with the Blackboard 24/7 system prompted FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand to cancel the online learning through tomorrow (Friday). The system encountered log-in problems and other issues since distance learning kicked off on Tuesday (April 14).
Brabrand made the decision after hiccups on Wednesday morning prompted a two-hour delay in teacher-led instruction. Online learning was later canceled due to ongoing technical issues that day.
“We sincerely appreciate your patience and share your frustration related to our distance learning challenges this week. FCPS had worked closely with Blackboard’s technical team for several weeks prior to the launch of distance learning and there was no indication that the system would be unable to handle the volume of participating users or would be susceptible to the security issues that many of our schools encountered,” Brabrand wrote.
Blackboard Inc., a Reston-based company that contracts with school systems nationwide, says it believes it has identified the root cause of connectivity problems. The company expects updates to the system will take until at least Friday to complete.
“As a Fairfax County-based company, we are deeply committed to providing Fairfax students and parents the robust and secure learning environment that they want and need. We apologize for the disruption this has caused to instruction and we appreciate patience as we all work together as an education community to ensure continuity of learning for students.”
Brabrand noted that the school system will provide an update on the status of distance learning tomorrow (Friday).
Teachers will contact students over the email and phone to make sure third-quarter work assigned before March 13 is submitted. Students can live stream instructional programs on local cable channels and other resources are available on the school’s website.
The school system’s distance learning plan is scheduled to run through June 8. High school and middle school students will receive no marks for the fourth quarter, although fourth-quarter assignments can be used to lift a student’s final grade. Elementary school students will not receive any fourth-quarter grades.
Fairfax County officials have created a fund to support small businesses struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Board of Supervisors approved creating the “Fairfax County Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Microloan Fund” during their meeting today (Tuesday). The board expects the loan program to be ready by May 1, according to county documents.
The program allows the Community Business Partnership (CBP) to distribute roughly $1.2 million to eligible small businesses in the county. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees make up about 94 percent of businesses in the county, according to the documents.
Businesses who undergo a pre-submission counseling session will be able to apply for loans up to $20,000 and will be able to use the money for things like rent, equipment and critical cash operating expenses. The loans will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, the documents say.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said the county’s program complements federal aid, including financial assistance from the Small Business Administration.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity said he was concerned about the administrative costs of operating the county’s program. He also proposed an amendment requiring the CBP to direct small business owners to seek federal aid prior to seeking local assistance.
McKay said Herrity’s amendment, which did not pass, was not necessary because the CBP already encourages individuals to seek federal avenues for help. He also noted that many businesses are falling through the cracks due to the limits of federal assistance, including delays in the rollout of funds.
Other county officials encouraged the county to reach as many affected businesses as possible.
Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck said he hopes the program champions “administrative flexibility” in order to help out businesses with between two and 10 employees.
The funding for the program is coming from $2.5 million in the Economic Opportunity Reserve to support economic relief efforts.
Staff in the Department of Economic Initiatives will monitor the distribution of the funds to figure out how to use the remaining $1.28 million, according to county documents. After 45 days, staff will let the board know if they recommend additional funds for the program.
McKay also directed county staff to explore additional relief options for businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Catherine Douglas Moran and Fatimah Waseem contributed to this story.
Image via Fairfax County
Delays are expected for the rollout of the Fairfax County Police Department’s body-worn camera program.
In late 2019, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved $4 million to begin implementation of the program.
But now in Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill’s revised budget for fiscal year 2021, the county plans to push back funding for 338 cameras for the Sully, McLean and West Springfield Stations in the second year of the program.
The county is also revisiting funding plans for 456 cameras for the third year of the program at the Fair Oaks, Franconia and South County district stations.
The proposed budget — which was scaled back considerably in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — maintains an increase of $1.77 million to support the first full year of the program.
Funding is expected to remain for 416 cameras that will be issued to the Reston, Mason and Mt. Vernon police stations, according to county budget documents.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County has passed 1,000.
The county continues to lead all other jurisdictions with a total of 1,164 cases, according to state data released this morning.
Between yesterday (Sunday) and today, 156 new cases were reported.
Overall, 5,747 cases statewide and 149 deaths have been reported, including 19 deaths in Fairfax County.
Currently, seven hospitals in the state are having trouble securing personal proactive equipment.
Roughly 23 percent of available ventilators statewide are currently in use and 5,970 beds are available for patients.
Data via Virginia Department of Health
Updated at 6:30 p.m. — Fairfax County announced this afternoon that the number of cases totals 778 and there have been 19 deaths.
Earlier: The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the county more than doubled for the first time in more than a week.
Eleven more people in Fairfax County have died from the novel coronavirus, according to information released by the county yesterday (Thursday).
That brings the total number of deaths in the county to 16. As of today (Friday), there are 777 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county, up from 690 yesterday.
All of the individuals who died from the illness were above the age of 50.
In the state, 121 people have died from the respiratory disease and there are a little over 4,500 cases.
This week, the growth rate of cases has increased in comparison to the previous week.
Data from Virginia Department of Health
The number of COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County continues to rapidly increase.
According to state data released this morning, the number of cases jumped from 570 yesterday (Wednesday) to 690 overnight in the Fairfax Health District.
The Fairfax Health District includes Fairfax County, the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church and towns in the county. Five people have died due to the novel coronavirus in the county.
The Fairfax Health District continues to have the highest number of cases in Virginia. Overall, more than 33,000 people have been tested and nearly 4,042 cases have been confirmed statewide. So far, 109 people have died.
The county’s health department cannot provide more geographic information about cases beyond the county level due to privacy laws.
“We believe that all geographic areas of Fairfax County currently are at risk fo disease transmission,” the health department wrote in a statement.
Data via Virginia Department of Health
Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill is pitching major revisions to his budget proposal for fiscal year 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The revised budget, which was released yesterday evening, eliminates a proposed three-cent tax rate increase and fee increases across-the-board in order to relieve pressure on the county’s taxpayers. Hill’s proposal also shifts spending to essential services only and removes all salary increases.
No net increase in the county’s revenues is expected.
The proposal maintains funding increases for the county’s health department the school’s health programs, as well as coordination for programs for those with developmental disabilities, and IT infrastructure for the November elections.
Roughly $9.6 million will be set aside in reserve funds to address the pandemic, in addition to eight new positions in the health department to address the county’s response.
“Protecting the jobs and current pay levels of the county’s existing employees continues to be of utmost importance as we progress through these challenging times,” Hill wrote in a letter to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Hill cautioned that uncertainty about the extent of the economic downtown complicates the budget process.
“At this time, we are unsure how long the current economic downturn will last as we do not yet know how long it will take for our country to begin to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus.”
The county expects next year’s general fund revenues will rest at the 2020 level of $4.5 billion. This estimate assumes that the health crisis is over by July and that gradual recovery prompts the resumption of economic activity, according to the county.
Major hits to revenue streams like the sales tax, transit occupancy tax, and business occupancy tax are also expected. These losses are expected to offset an expected real estate tax revenue increase of 3.7 percent or $107.4 million. Hill said it was unlikely the state would be able to absorb the impact of revenue losses without adjusting allocations to local jurisdictions.
Here’s how revenue streams could be impacted:
- Personal property tax: Decrease of $9.5 million or 1.5 percent
- Sales tax: Decrease of $26.7 million or 13.5 percent
- Transient occupancy tax: Decrease of $7 million or 30 percent
- Business, professional and occupational licenses: Decrease of $17.2 million or 10 percent
- Land development services building and inspection fees: Decrease of $4.2 million or 10 percent
- Interest on investments: Decrease of $36.7 million or 62.6 percent
Fairfax County Public Schools will receive 0.3 percent more than last year’s budget, a fraction of the previously proposed 3.65 percent increase.
Residents can provide testimony on the budget via video, phone or online for upcoming budget hearings, which are rescheduled to April 28-30. The county board is expected to adopt the budget on May 12, after a mark-up meeting on May 5.
“As Fairfax County finds itself in a different reality, we will need to think about changes that may be necessary to maintain our premier status. Our future may be leaner, and will certainly be more efficient, as we use different tools to provide the services that are needed for our community,” Hill said.
