How Much PPP Funding Went to Virginia Businesses? — “D.C., Maryland and Virginia businesses collectively received about 5% of the total loan dollars greenlit by the Small Business Administration through its wildly sought-after Paycheck Protection Program, which ran out of funds in fewer than two weeks after it debuted… Virginia businesses received 40,371 loans totaling $8.72 billion.” [Washington Business Journal]
McLean Man Shares Dyslexia in New Book — “Michael Balzano’s life has been a classic American rags-to-riches tale – even though he’s had to battle dyslexia every step of the way. His recently published book, “Dyslexic: My Journey,” covers that often misdiagnosed reading disability and the problems it causes, but also has a broader mission.” [Inside NoVa]
Local Real Estate Agents Adapt — “Those who are actively looking tend to be serious buyers and who are employed and have an optimistic attitude that the virus will be under control soon. For others, wanting to sell or buy, there may be too much uncertainty now. Heather Embrey of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Premier said she had experienced potential sellers changing their minds to wait out the pandemic.” [Falls Church News-Press]
FCPS Meals for Kids — “The school system’s Office of Food and Nutrition Services as of April 14 had provided more than 357,000 meals, including breakfasts and lunches, at 61 areas locations, said schools spokesman Lucy Caldwell.” [Inside NoVa]
How Local Students Work Interning Virtually — “As Virginia schools remain closed due to the state’s COVID-19 social distancing mandates, BASIS Independent McLean (BIM) 12th graders are undertaking senior internships virtually, adapting to the video and audio tools that allow professional experience training to continue as part of BASIS Independent McLean’s final senior project.” [Patch]
Nightlife is zilch in Tysons at the moment due to the pandemic. After a brief hiatus, the “Tysons After Dark” series is back to highlight different online activities from local organizations that keep people busy once the sun goes down.
McLean Community Center is closed, so the McLean Project for the Arts is shifting its art classes from in-person to online.
MCC announced the Zoom classes in its recent newsletter. Now, people can register for the classes, which include watercolor, painting, drawing and more.
Some classes are in the afternoons, while others are in the evening. The classes are on a set schedule with predetermined time slots on different days. Prices vary from class to class.
Here are some of the upcoming ones:
- Portrait and Figure Painting
- Drawing in Landscape
- Drawing and Painting Studio
- Vibrant Flower Paintings in Oil
MPA is also offering a new class on experimental portraiture with former MPA faculty and staff member Arthur Kwon Lee, who is currently in New York City, the newsletter said.
More about the class:
The history of art cannot be told without witnessing portraiture painting in its myriad of forms. This class explores different approaches to creating the human gaze. Through the lens of art history exercises and alternative mark making approaches, artists will discover new ways to excavate the world of portraiture with excitement. Our class will emulate multiple modalities of portraiture from the De Koonings, the cubists and beyond.
The class is on Tuesdays from 7:30-9:30 p.m., starting April 21.
People who are staying at home with small kids can keep them entertained with Abrakadoodle classes.
People who are interested or have questions can contact Briana Clorey at [email protected].
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
Thirty people have died from the novel coronavirus in Fairfax County, according to information the county released yesterday (Thursday).
All of the people who died from the illness were above the age of 50.
Fairfax County is currently leading Virginia in the number of coronavirus cases and outbreaks.
As of this morning, the Fairfax Health District had 1,478 cases — two of which are in the City of Fairfax, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
More data on the Fairfax Health District:
- 268 hospitalizations
- 7,657 tests
- 21 outbreaks — 19 at long term care facilities and one each at correction facility and healthcare setting
The Fairfax Health District includes Fairfax County, the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church and towns in the county.
Data via Virginia Department of Health
To check-in with local doctors to see how they are faring during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tysons Reporter reached out to Kaiser Permanente, which has locations all over the mid-Atlantic region.
Dennis Truong is the regional telemedicine director and assistant physician in chief in Northern Virginia for Kaiser Permanente, who sees patients at the Tysons Corner Kaiser medical center, according to a KP spokesperson.
Truong told Tysons Reporter in a Q&A about his experience helping patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How are you feeling emotionally during this time?
Each day is a crazy mix of emotions. To keep a balanced mind, I take time every morning to acknowledge each one, from worrying about loved ones and colleagues, near and far, to the stress of getting the necessary work things done in this race against time. But with these emotions also brings appreciation, for what I have and for the opportunity to serve others and transform health care during this pandemic.
Many of us health care workers have trained and prepared most of our lives to serve in a moment like this. So overall, I feel emotionally strong because I’m inspired by those around me and know that doing my part, while they do theirs, will get us through this.
Each day also bring elements of pleasant emotional surprises, from family texting jokes and spontaneous words of encouragement and appreciation, to dentist friends donating masks from their practices, to colleagues willing to pitch in to help when telehealth surges all hours of the day.
This leads to the most important emotion — a glimpse of happiness — as we’re seeing how so many people care about each other’s well-being and are willing to take personal responsibility to help “flatten the curve.”
For many of my health care colleagues around the world, hope and happiness fuels us to keep fighting the fight with a positive attitude against COVID-19.
What is the attitude of patients who come in for things other than COVID-19 concerns?
In three short weeks, we’ve dramatically transformed the care delivery system at Kaiser Permanente in the mid-Atlantic region to meet the needs of our members virtually.
More than 85% of our encounters are now virtual across urgent care, primary care, and specialty care departments. This paradigm shift was possible for three key reasons. First, at Kaiser Permanente we’ve been doing virtual care (aka telehealth) since 2013 so our providers were prepared.
Also, the Kaiser Permanente culture has always been patient-centric and extremely responsive to the needs of our members. The ability to quickly pivot and rapidly scale our telehealth offerings across all services was universal.
Last, we communicated with our members early and often, so they understood the significance of using our telehealth options before they came into a clinic to keep themselves and our communities safe.
Almost all of our patients use our telehealth options of the advice nurse, e-visits, phone visits and video visits to get personalized care and care coordination before coming in to one of our medical centers. We’ve had many patients express gratitude for being able to access care, for COVID and many other medical needs that are still arising, from the comfort of home.
Do you feel that there are enough medical supplies in the Reston, Tysons, McLean and Falls Church area to support the needs of patients and doctors? What are you running low on?
COVID is now spreading quickly through many communities including here in the D.C. area and our equipment and supply needs have increased significantly as a result. Yet, we have leveraged our national network and with the support of our supply teams and our staff, have increased our supply of personal protective equipment. Through diligent conservation efforts and ongoing procurement efforts, we have the appropriate PPE to protect our team today and in the days ahead.
What trends or changes to the medical system have surprised you the most during this pandemic?
Since early March at Kaiser Permanente, we have seen a total delivery system transformation to “virtual first.” This means that our first approach to an appointment is a virtual appointment through video, phone or secure email. We have evolved to providing more than 85% of all encounters virtually. Our priority has been keeping our members safe and educating and notifying them about care choices. It is amazing how many patients and providers are now using our system “virtual first.”
How prepared is the NoVA area compared to the rest of the country for the peak of the pandemic? When do you think the peak will happen?
The latest information indicates that we could see a surge of patients in our region over the next two to three weeks. However, these models are changing and this timing may change too. We are working diligently to make sure that we are ready to care for all our patients whether they come this week, next week or later. We are also set up to continue expanding our virtual care and pharmacy delivery options as the surge occurs.
How will the pandemic affect people who come into the ER with other (non-COVID-19) life-threatening emergencies?
We are using our robust telehealth services to have our physicians safely evaluate and follow members at their homes. If patients show up to our centers, we have created separate areas to triage COVID and non-COVID patients.
For COVID patients, we triage them to a special triage location with skilled emergency medicine physicians dedicated to that work. Therefore, other patients coming to us for urgent care are treated in separate area by a separate group of emergency physicians to assure continued delivery of highest quality care.
How do you feel that this pandemic will affect the rest of your career in healthcare?
The pandemic has already affected my career in extraordinary ways. As a board-certified emergency physician, I trained in Detroit hospital systems that only knew about dealing with emergencies or those that couldn’t afford preventative care. As an active-duty Air Force physician, I learned the importance of structure but lacked the right technology.
When I came to Kaiser Permanente, I learned the importance of proactive and integrated care alongside a provider and patient-friendly electronic medical records. As the director of Virtual Care for Kaiser Permanente, I am part of a team that has spent years preparing our technology and organizational culture to understand the important role virtual care has in safely extending our care delivery reach.
Every pandemic is an opportunity to learn, and when the dust settles on COVID-19, I believe the U.S. health care system and our citizens will have fully embraced telehealth as the leading approach in healthcare.
Staff photo by Jay Westcott
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.
Today is National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day.
The “holiday” started when Pajamagram started a campaign in 2004 to give people a chance to relax after filing their taxes, according to National Day Calendar.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, wearing pajamas while working from home might have been more of a rare treat than the “new normal” for many people.
For essential workers, teleworking isn’t always an option. And there are some people who get dressed up to work from home.
Whether you’re in cozy flannel, pairing a dress shirt with pajama pants or wearing your uniform, let us know in the poll below if you’re participating.
Photo by FLOUFFY on Unsplash
Turn Tysons Streets For Recreational Use? — “Select a few roads and open them to people by closing them to all but local traffic. By doing so, we’ll make space for people to get fresh air and exercise without risk of spreading the coronavirus or getting run over. The cost will only be a few traffic cones, temporary signs, and asking a handful of drivers to go a few minutes out of their way.” [Greater Greater Washington]
Mark Keam Hosting Virtual Town Hall Tonight — “As he returns to Richmond for the reconvene session on April 22, Mark will also answer questions about the Governor’s amendments to some of the bills that passed the legislature this year. Of particular interest to voters in the Town of Vienna, Mark will explain the Governor’s recommendation to move the Town Council elections from May to November.” [Facebook]
Locals Start T-Shirt Fundraiser — “Inspired by a friend’s philanthropic effort in Texas, two Falls Church residents have started their own fundraising campaign to help out during the pandemic, raising money by selling Little City-themed t-shirts. After barely a week in operation, more than 700 shirts have been sold and more than $12,000 has been raised.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Falls Church Cancels Memorial Day Festivities — “The City of Falls Church announced today the cancellation of its biggest event of the year, the annual Memorial Day Parade and Festival, set to take place next month, citing recent executive orders issued by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam urging localities to cancel large-scale events through June 10.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Dranesville School Rep to Host Virtual Town Hall — “Thursday, April 16, and next Monday, April 20, Dranesville School Board Representative Elaine Tholen will hold open town hall meetings with At-Large Representatives, Karen Keys-Gamarra and Rachna Sizemore Heizer, respectively. Leigh Burden, Assistant Superintendent for Financial Services at FCPS will participate in the April 16 town hall as well.” [John Foust newsletter, Blackboard, Blackboard]
New Virtual Exploration Center — The Fairfax County Park Authority created a new virtual exploration center for people who want to explore while staying home. [Fairfax County]
County officials are urging Fairfax Connector passengers to cover their faces while riding the bus.
Fairfax County announced today (Wednesday) that passengers should use non-medical face coverings or cloth masks to help prevent spreading the coronavirus.
“While the use of cloth face coverings is strongly encouraged, no one without such a face covering will be denied entry to Fairfax Connector buses,” the announcement said.
Additionally, passengers should practice social distancing, avoid public transportation when sick and wash their hands often.
The bus service has taken several recent steps to combat the virus from implementing rear door boarding to suspending fare collection. The buses are also being cleaned more frequently.
In the announcement, county officials shared a video Dawna Poyner, a public health nurse with the Fairfax County Health Department, taking about face coverings.
(Updated 3 p.m.) As the number of coronavirus cases grows in Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam has extended restrictions on non-essential businesses.
In a press briefing today (Wednesday), Northam announced that he is extending his previous order affecting schools and non-essential businesses.
Now, his order that closed recreational and entertainment businesses, along with non-essential businesses that cannot limit patrons to 10 people or less, will expire on May 8 instead of next week.
Virginia is also under a stay at home order, which will last until June 10.
“I don’t have any intentions as of today extending that,” Northam said about the stay at home order, adding that he may considering moving the June 10 deadline back.
“This is such a dynamic situation. It is fluid. It literally changes every day — the data that are being put into these models,” he said. “For me to stand here almost two months before June 10 and say what we’re going to do at that time is really difficult to say.”
Northam said that social distancing — staying at least six feet apart from people — “is working” and that Virginians’ recent efforts are slowing the spread of the virus.
“Our entire sense of normal life is out the window,” Northam said, adding that once the order expire, people will still need to take precautions.
The “new normal” will likely include wearing wearing face coverings, teleworking if possible, social distancing, staying away from large gatherings and spending more time in homes, Northam said.
“Things are not going back exactly the way they were before,” he said.
Image via Twitter
