Use of Force Policies on Agenda — Fairfax County’s Public Safety Committee will hear an update today from the police department on use of force policies. [Fairfax County]
COVID-19 Deaths — “State health officials reported no new deaths linked to COVID-19 in Northern Virginia in the latest daily report Sunday. It’s the first day with no new deaths reported since April 6. It does not mean that no deaths occurred in a 24-hour period — it can take days for deaths to be added to the state’s COVID-19 data.” [Inside NoVa]
Grant Deadline Extended — “The deadline has been extended to Monday, June 22 for the City of Falls Church Economic Development Authority (EDA)’s Small Business and Non-Profit COVID-19 Emergency Grant program.” [City of Falls Church]
Vienna Officials OK Budget — “Vienna Town Council adopted last night a $41 million budget for fiscal year 2020-21, which begins July 1. The adopted budget encompasses four funds, including the general, or daily operations, fund, which totals $24.8 million for the coming year, a $2.5 million decrease from the originally proposed general fund budget… Cuts to the proposed general fund are necessary in response to anticipated losses in revenue due to impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.” [Town of Vienna]
Due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has three scenarios for reopening schools this fall.
In May, a task force was created to prepare recommendations for FCPS reopening. On June 9, Gov. Ralph Northam unveiled his phased reopening plan, which provides flexibility for schools in Virginia.
The school board discussed the proposed Return to School plan, which includes three reopening scenarios, Monday afternoon.
The three scenarios are:
- virtual learning for all students
- in-school learning with health and social distancing
- online learning for students with a high risker of severe illness
In the first scenario, students would not be allowed in buildings but the staff would be. Students would have four days of synchronous learning per week and one day of asynchronous learning.
Meanwhile, the second scenario has two proposals for attendance in the buildings at any one time — 50% and 25%.
In-school learning would include cleaning of high-touch areas, daily health screening forms, social distancing in classrooms and on buses and restricting buildings to visitors.
Finally, the third scenario would make groups of students and teachers for online instruction. With the online model, students would receive four days of synchronous learning per week and one day of asynchronous learning.
Additionally, FCPS has proposals for what would happen if the pandemic prompted another shutdown. The plan also mentions shared elements of the three scenarios — middle and high school students having access to laptops via FCPSOn — and how they address equity.
Discussion during the meeting today noted that FCPS needs to prepare for the possibility that more than one scenario might happen, especially if there’s a resurgence of COVID-19.
How to keep students and staff dominated the school board’s discussion.
Gloria Addo-Ayensu, the director of the Fairfax County Health Department, said that there aren’t plans to test students prior to them coming back to school. Addo-Ayensu noted that screening forms are a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Addo-Ayensu and Benjamin Schwartz, a medical epidemiologist with Fairfax County, said that data on the impact of COVID-19 on kids is limited.
They said that the infection rate is unknown for kids and added that information is emerging on Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome of Children (MIS-C) — a rare but serious COVID-19 complication.
Input from local health data and the Fairfax County Department of Health will inform the final decisions, according to the plan.
“You’re talking hundreds and hundreds of kids coming in at once,” Superintendent Scott Brabrand said, adding that social distancing cannot be guaranteed in schools.
Brabrand said that safety procedures are also important for retaining staff: “We don’t want folks resigning.”
FCPS is looking to get face shields for bus drivers and special education teachers, Brabrand noted. Ricardy Anderson, the representative for the Mason District, called for teachers to receive face shields as well.
If FCPS decides to go with an in-person reopening that alternates days for students, childcare could become an issue for families.
Dranesville District Representative Elaine Tholen suggested that FCPS coordinate with the Fairfax County Park Authority so that families and staff have childcare options.
Tholen proposed a “creative idea” to turn outdoor space at the schools and nearby parks into childcare centers contained in tents, adding that kids could access WiFi outside the schools.
Brabrand and Hunter Mill District Representative Melanie Meren agreed that more childcare is needed, with Brabrand calling it a “great idea.”
As FCPS moves forward with plans for the fall, the school board is aware that the botched rollout of online learning this spring puts more pressure on the school system to get the reopening right.
“We can’t risk another failure like we did before,” Providence District Representative Karl Frisch said.
Brabrand addressed the criticism of the distance learning attempts, saying it’s important that FCPS does not overpromise and under-deliver: “We did that before.”
Families will have several opportunities to provide feedback on the recommendations ahead of the deadline for FCPS to announce a reopening decision on June 26.
FCPS plans to host a town hall on Tuesday, June 16, that will talk about the Return to School plans. The town hall is set to run from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and will include Brabrand, the assistant superintendent of Facilities and Transportation Services and the manager of School Health Services.
People can also submit feedback by emailing the superintendent at [email protected] and fill out a survey.
FCPS also plans to hold a virtual public hearing on the Return to School plans at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 18. People can register online to speak.
Photo via Element5 Digital/Unsplash, infographics via FCPS
COVID-19 Hospitalizations Slow Down in Virginia — “The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported only 959 coronavirus patients in state hospitals, the lowest number since the organization began providing data in early April. That was down from over 1,500 patients as recently as May 29 and a high of 1,625 on May 8. Only 342 of those patients were in Northern Virginia, down from a high of 818 on April 30.” [Inside NoVa]
Calls to Rename Schools With Confederate Ties — “[The] Falls Church City’s Public School Board is faced with calls to change the names of one or both of its five schools that are currently named for men who were slaveholders at the time of the nation’s founding.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Support for Vienna Police — “Vienna Town Manager Mercury Payton usually kicks off Town Council work sessions by listing the evening’s agenda, but on June 8 he began with something from the heart: a statement addressing protests that recently have swept the nation after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Payton… signaled his support for Vienna police and said it was not the time to divest from law enforcement.” [Inside NoVa]
Unemployment Claims — “More than 100,000 Fairfax County residents have now filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic began in mid-March as the region’s job market continues to struggle to recover from business shutdowns.” [Inside NoVa]
CVS announced dozens of new drive-thru testing sites for COVID-19 in Virginia with a few near Tysons.
Of the 39 pharmacies offering the tests, two locations are near Merrifield and one is in Great Falls, according to the company’s website.
The locations near Merrifield can be found at 3921 Prosperity Avenue and 10090 Fairfax Blvd, while the address for the Great Falls location is 1020 Seneca Road.
These locations are a part of a nationwide initiative offering 986 total testing locations, the website said.
Patients must register in advance at CVS.com and take a brief survey before making an appointment, according to the website.
The locations will accept most major insurance providers so people may be able to get a free test, the site said.
Respondents are asked for information including birthdate, symptoms, if they have a reference from a doctor or official and if they have preexisting health conditions that might put them at a higher risk.
CVS joins the growing list of places where people can get tested. Tysons Reporter recently compiled a list of places where people can get COVID-19 tests around Tysons.
Image via Google Maps
People wondering where they can go to get tested for COVID-19 in Virginia now have a new resource.
The Virginia Department of Health made a map of facilities offering testing. Tysons Reporter took a look and found the phone numbers, addresses and requirements for testing at the sites in the Tysons area.
For people on the fence about whether or not to get tested, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers information and things people should consider before seeking medical attention.
Tysons
AllCare/Synergy Immediate Care (1980 Gallows Road) is offering tests Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 p.m. until 1:30 p.m., the site said, adding that results will usually be available within three business days. People must first go through a phone appointment before being referred to a drive-thru test, the page added.
Inova Urgent Care Center (8357 Leesburg Pike) is open for testing seven days a week from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. People must visit with a provider first, who will then order a test for the patient, according to the website.
Falls Church
Kaiser Permanente at the Falls Church Medical Center (201 N. Washington Street) is offering tests for Kaiser patients only once they meet with a doctor or nurse, the page said. Drive-thru testing is available seven days a week from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and again from 3:30-7:3o p.m.
McLean
Mclean Medical Center & Urgent Care (6858 Old Dominion Drive) accepts all insurances and is open for walk-in care from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on weekdays, the website said.
Mclean Pharmacy (1392 Chain Bridge Road) offers testing for Medicare patients Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. People must call ahead at 571-488-6030.
McLean Immediate Care (1340 Old Chain Bridge Road) offers testing for anyone who thinks they may have the virus. A drive-in test costs $175, the website said. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon until 6 p.m.
Tysons Partnership plans to host a virtual meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) to tackle transportation issues in the area.
The meeting will address recent challenges people face this year — including the Silver and Orange lines shutting down this summer to providing space so pedestrians and cyclists can social distance.
The event will include local employers, retail and office owners and county staff focused on transit and economic development to talk about how to creatively address transportation issues caused or impacted by COVID-19, according to the event’s description.
Panelists will include:
- Hillary Zahm of Macerich
- Jon Griffith of Capital One
- Alex Iams of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority
- Eric Teitelman of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation
- Andrea Ostrodka of Toole Design
- Michael Rodriguez of Smart Growth America
The meeting is open to the public and set to run from 4-5 p.m. People will receive the link to the Zoom webinar after they register for free.
Like so many other local businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic shook up Curbside Kitchen, forcing the food truck management service to rethink its customer appeal.
Before the pandemic, the Tysons-based company centered its mission around building lunchtime communities for office buildings and catering local events. Now as people shy away from social gatherings and are working remotely, Curbside Kitchen’s owner Amy Katz said her team has been working “around the clock” to rethink the company’s marketing and help people in need.
“When I first heard the lights went out on commercial business, I panicked,” Katz said, adding that the team quickly put together a plan of attack for its “new normal.”
Instead of food trucks as a place to gather and connect, Katz said she sees them as a way for people to safely get affordable, quick and filling food options.
“As we see restaurants go out of business, food trucks are going to become more and more critical,” Katz said. “But I think things are going to change and food trucks have a distinct advantage in the new way of doing business.”
In an effort to help people during the pandemic, Curbside Kitchen also began supporting several organizations to help at-risk community members and minority food truck owners, Katz said.
Called Curbside Cares, the effort helps marginalized groups across the D.C. region.
“It’s been so heartwarming and wonderful to see the food truck owners to get out there and serve the people who are in the most need right now,” Katz said. “It helps us to build our social impact program.”
Community partners include Fuel the Fight, which collects money through a GoFundMe to feed frontline workers; Nourish Now, which helps to feed families fighting food insecurity; and Shepherd’s Table, which cares for women who are homeless and people in harms way from domestic violence around the D.C. region.
Fairfax County also works with the company to feed people around the area working in public sanitation. “No one has thought about the waste management people,” Katz said.
To follow new health codes and best practices, Katz said Curbside Kitchen isn’t taking any risks so its customers can feel safe enjoying their favorite food-truck meals.
“The main priority for us was to make sure they were following very strict COVID-19 health requirements, making sure they were using mobile pay and using [contactless] delivery,” she said. “This isn’t something they were all familiar with having to do.”
Though Katz wants to get back to some type of normal, she also said the food truck industry isn’t out of the woods yet.
“Revenue is down without a doubt,” she said. The business is staying afloat through purchases from biomedical tech companies that still have workers on-site and people ordering multi-family meals.
With meat plants shutting down and the price of ingredients rising, food trucks as a whole face another challenge — food shortages.
Wholesalers around the area have started limiting quantity available to food truck drivers, instituting caps and significantly raising prices, according to Katz.
It isn’t clear yet how trucks will adapt, but Curbside Kitchen’s spokesperson Meghan Tidwell had a more optimistic mindset, saying that as chefs, food truck owners will adapt using any items available.
“They’re just changing up their menus,” Tidwell said. “They’re getting creative and creating menu items from what is out there.”
Photo courtesy Curbside Kitchen
The McLean Community Center won’t have fireworks for the Fourth of July due to public health concerns.
The community center recently announced that it plans on canceling almost all of its summer events and activities. These cancellations include McLean Day, which was set to be held this Saturday (May 16), all summer camps and the Independence Day fireworks and corresponding celebration at Langley High School, according to a press release.
“MCC has chosen to announce this decision now to allow patrons and their families the opportunity to make alternative summer plans,” the press release said.
Still, the community center plans to have things to keep people busy during this time of social distancing and staying inside.
“We will be offering, at no-cost, two- or three-day virtual activities during the time when we would have been holding camps,” George Sachs, MCC’s executive director, said in the press release.
Depending on what happens later in the summer, Sachs said that staff may reconsider hosting modified in-person camps once it is safe.
The number of COVID-19 cases has now surpassed 5,000 in Fairfax County, according to the latest state data.
As of data released today, 5,045 cases and 211 deaths have been reported in the county, while the City of Falls Church has 36 cases and four deaths, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
Statewide, there are more than 21,500 cases and 769 deaths.
Of the state’s 257 outbreaks — most of which are at long term care facilities — 43 outbreaks are in the Fairfax Health District, which includes the county and its cities and towns. Of the Fairfax outbreaks, 40 are at long term care facilities and one each is at a correctional facility, health care setting and educational setting.
Data on the respiratory illness in the state was not available yesterday due to a glitch.
Daily #Virginia COVID-19 data delayed as @VDHgov deals with technical glitch. VDH says it is "working to resolve the error, and will update information as soon as possible."
— Virginia Public Access Project (@vpapupdates) May 6, 2020
Photo via CDC/Unsplash
A Tysons teenager decided to use his newly found free time to assist with COVID-19 relief efforts by creating his own campaign to help health care workers and local eateries.
Arul Nigam, who is 17, founded Heroes of COVID to arrange food deliveries to hospitals in pandemic hotspots around the country and support local eateries in the process by paying them for their services.
Thanks to donors, Nigam uses funds from a GoFundMe page to purchases meals from struggling eateries to give to hospital workers.
So far, Nigam said the project has raised around $9,000 and has helped people not only around the Tysons area but in nine different states as well.
Just last Wednesday, Heroes of COVID delivered a meal to Inova in Falls Church, according to its Facebook Page.
Each meal that is delivered to a medical worker also features a personal note, Nigam said.
Along with meal deliveries, the organization also features medical professionals who work in challenging conditions and gives them a platform to voice their experiences.
“We are creating a platform for health care workers to share their message and share what it’s like working on the front lines, he said. “A lot of health care workers want to use it as a platform to educate people on the types of precautions they should take during this time to protect themselves and everyone around them.”
Anyone who works in the medical field and wants to share their experience can message the Facebook page or drop a comment on one of its recent posts.
“We hope that showcasing their stories and broadcasting their messages will help spread awareness, build confidence, and foster safety, while encouraging us all to be more cautious and cognizant,” the Facebook page said.
People can also follow the Heroes of COVID’s Instagram account if they’d like to hear about the personal narratives from healthcare workers.
This experience helped Nigam to hone his networking, logistic and coordination skills, he said. But, this isn’t his first experience with campaigning.
He previously started an organization that works with companies to host community service events that allow staff members to bond with their co-workers while helping their community. A popular project, Nigam said, is gathering members of a company during a lunch break to assemble meals to give to homeless shelters.
As a junior in high school, he added that his peers are really interested in his work.
“A lot of them have shared information about it with friends and family, which has helped elevate us on social media,” he said. “That has been really helpful.”
As of last week, Heroes of COVID has managed to help feed workers at roughly 17 different hospitals around the country.
Photo courtesy Shirali Nigam
