(Updated at 3:20 on 2/18/2021) A parking lot outside of Tysons Corner Center has been converted into a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site, adding to the 30-plus sites that have already been established around Fairfax County over the past 11 months.

The startup Sameday Health opened the new site at 1981 Chain Bridge Rd. on Friday (Feb. 20). The 20,000 square-foot, 550-space lot has the capacity to accommodate over 1,000 people per day, according to Sameday Testing managing partner Patrick Emad.

This is Sameday’s first Fairfax County testing site and its 11th in the D.C. area since launching one in Georgetown in November. The company also has sites in Alexandria, Arlington, and Sterling.

Emad says Sameday decided to open a site in Tysons because of its proximity to several major roads, including the Capital Beltway, Route 7, and the Dulles Toll Road. The amount of traffic that passes through the area also made it an ideal spot for a drive-thru site, rather than a walk-in facility.

“We figured if we increase the access to testing, more people will get tested, especially because it’s free with insurance, and it will allow us to help stop the spread,” Emad said.

Based in Los Angeles, Calif., Sameday Health offers both RT-PCR tests, which detect the novel coronavirus’ genetic material, and antigen tests, which detect proteins. The tests are conducted using nasal swabs.

The standard RT-PCR test carries no out-of-pocket costs for people with insurance and has a turnaround time of under 72 hours, though that can be reduced to less than 24 hours for a rush fee of $75. People without insurance can pay $125 for a rapid antigen test that produces results in 30 minutes or $175 for the 24-hour RT-PCR test.

Emad helped build Sameday Health with CEO Felix Huettenbach after witnessing the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician in Montgomery County. Huttenbach had been working for a startup that used PCR testing to detect cancers, and they realized the same technology could be applied to COVID-19 testing.

While some initial kinks needed to be worked out, Emad says the custom-built portal that Sameday uses allows for efficiency, since every step of the process, from the appointment scheduling to the delivery of results, is conducted through the same computer system.

Appointments can be booked online and generally take about 10 minutes, though the wait time can vary depending on demand.

“Majority of the time, it’s a seamless process,” Emad said. “Our medical staff and professionals are very well-trained to make it nice and easy and comforting, and they’re happy to answer questions and do it with a smile under their mask.”

Sameday Testing worked with Macerich, which owns and operates the Tysons Corner mall, to set up the Tysons testing site. Emad says both companies hope to turn it into a mass vaccination site in the future.

The Fairfax County Health Department recommends that anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms or has been exposed to someone who tested positive for the disease get tested.

“Testing remains a critically important part of the pandemic response,” Fairfax County Director of Epidemiology and Population Health Dr. Benjamin Schwartz said. “While anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 should separate themselves from others (self-isolate) as soon as they recognize those symptoms so they don’t spread illness if it’s COVID-19, a positive test result reinforces the need for isolation and sets in motion the Health Department’s containment response.”

In addition to enabling individuals to determine whether they are infected, COVID-19 tests allow investigators to trace the disease’s spread and potential outbreaks. Samples of positive specimens are also sent to Virginia’s state laboratory for genetic sequencing that can be used to detect possible variants.

Correction: References to Sameday Testing have been changed to reflect that the company has rebranded and is now called Sameday Health.

Photo courtesy Sameday Health

COVID-19 case rates in Fairfax County have leveled off over the past week after appearing to trend downward since mid-January, when a record 1,485 cases were reported in a single day.

As of today, the county’s seven-day average is at 312.4 cases and has been hovering between 290 and 337 cases since Feb. 4. While the anticipated post-winter holiday surge seems to have tapered off, case levels are still higher than the pandemic’s initial spring peak, when the highest recorded seven-day average was 303 cases on May 31.

With 194 new cases today, the Fairfax Health District has now reported 64,950 COVID-19 cases, 3,482 hospitalizations, and 849 deaths, according to data from the Fairfax County Health Department.

Today also marked the launch of Virginia’s new statewide COVID-19 vaccine registration system, though Fairfax County is not participating for the time being.

Based on a registration data dashboard that went live on Feb. 12, Fairfax County has made slow but discernible progress in its efforts to vaccinate older adults, some groups of essential workers, and other eligible populations.

The Fairfax County Health Department has whittled its waitlist of people who have registered but haven’t been given an appointment yet down to 105,268 people, as of 10 a.m. The list had around 180,000 registrants as recently as last Thursday (Feb. 11). In total, 229,185 people have registered with the county to get the COVID-19 vaccine so far.

The health department is currently making appointments for more than 42,000 people who registered on Jan. 18, which saw particularly high demand since it was the day when the county expanded eligibility for the vaccine to people between the ages of 65 and 74 as well as people with high-risk medical conditions.

People who have registered for an appointment through the county health department can now see where they are in the queue with a registration status checker, though the rollout of that tool was not without its challenges.

Fairfax County has delivered 110,098 of the 114,923 vaccine doses that it has gotten from the Virginia Department of Health so far. About 68% of those doses were adminstered by the county health department, while the remaining 31% were distributed to other providers, like Inova.

According to the VDH, 48,404 people in Fairfax County have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and 163,200 total doses have been administered in the county. That number includes residents and staff at long-term care facilities that have been getting the vaccine through the federal government rather than the local health department.

Images via CDC on Unsplash, Virginia Department of Health

(Updated at 5:10 p.m.) Fairfax Health District residents looking to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine appointment should continue to use the Fairfax County registration system, the Fairfax County Health Department said today (Friday).

The Virginia Department of Health announced that a new, statewide registration system will launch on Tuesday (Feb. 16). Local health districts have been directed to close their existing registration forms starting at 5 p.m. today so that data can be cleaned up, consolidated, and transferred to the new system.

However, the FCHD says it will not participate in the statewide system at this time and will instead continue to manage vaccine appointments for everyone in the Fairfax Health District, which includes Fairfax County, the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, and the towns of Vienna, Herndon, and Clifton.

“For those already on the waitlist, do not register again on the new statewide system,” the county health department said.

Fairfax County’s vaccine call center at 703-324-7404 will also continue to be operational, even with the state launching a new call center.

Fairfax County decided to stick with its own registration system because officials believed it would be less confusing for residents, and because the county has “invested a lot of resources” into the system, Fairfax County Health Department spokesperson Tina Dale said.

Dale notes that the FCHD has now registered more than 200,000 people for vaccine appointments through its system.

“We invested a lot of resources into our registration system and worked out the kinks to ensure we continue to process more people than any other health district in the state,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said in a statement. “At this point, I am glad we can maintain our system that residents are familiar with to cut down on confusion. We will continue to have conversations with the state about registration as the vaccine process rolls out.”

Fairfax County’s promised dashboard with COVID-19 vaccine and registration data is also now live. According to the dashboard, 100,248 people in Fairfax County have now received at least one vaccine dose as of 4 p.m. today.

Photo via Fairfax County government

(Updated at 10:35 on 2/12/2021) Fairfax County government workers whose jobs put them at high risk of exposure to COVID-19 will now receive $2,000 in hazard pay, an increase from the $1,500 that county staff initially recommended in January.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the one-time bonuses on Tuesday (Feb. 9) before directing staff to look for additional funding to cover bonuses for all employees.

“It has been something to watch the response of our county employees over the past year to this pandemic,” Board Chairman Jeff McKay said after introducing the motion. “To be able to do this and have the resources available to reward these employees and thank them is absolutely critical.”

While the board expanded the program to include limited-term employees as well as merit employees, it backed staff’s suggestion of using the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health COVID-19 risk assessment to determine workers’ eligibility for hazard pay.

When the proposal first came to the board during its budget committee meeting on Jan. 12, some supervisors expressed concern about leaving out workers who could contract COVID-19 while on the job but don’t meet the VOSH standards for their risk level to be classified as “high” or “very high.”

The board planned to vote on hazard pay on Jan. 26, but the decision was postponed so that county staff could continue talks with the Fairfax County government employees’ union, SEIU Virginia 512, and other workers’ groups, which were advocating for hazard pay to be available to all employees.

Because the hazard pay comes from CARES Act relief funds, Fairfax County staff say federal guidelines dictate that the money must be limited to employees whose duties involve physical hardship directly related to pandemic emergency response efforts.

The approved proposal will cost an estimated $9.2 million, keeping it within the $10 million allocation that the Board of Supervisors set aside from the county’s coronavirus relief fund for hazard pay.

A broader hazard pay plan would have to use county funds, which McKay previously told Tysons Reporter would be “unlikely” to happen with the fiscal year 2022 budget. County Executive Bryan Hill will present an FY 2022 budget proposal to the board on Feb. 23.

The Board of Supervisors instead hopes to find the money for more bonuses in its FY 2021 budget through a third-quarter review that will be approved when the FY 2022 budget is marked up on Apr. 27.

“I think this is exactly the type of environment that we’re in right now that contributes to making bonuses a practical, doable solution to really value the work of all of our county employees at a time when we can’t do all of the things we’d like to do,” McKay said.

For the FY 2021 third-quarter review, staff have also been asked to evaluate the county’s leave programs and determine if new options can be provided to employees who have been unable to take advantage of existing programs due to the nature of their job.

SEIU Virginia 512 Executive Board President Tammie Wondong says the union was glad that Fairfax County ultimately included limited-term employees in its hazard pay plan, but more still needs to be done to ensure all workers are fairly compensated during the pandemic and beyond — something she argues can only be guaranteed if the union gets collective bargaining powers.

“We are headed in the right direction, because the fact is we were heard, and we got their attention,” Wondong said. “That’s the most important thing, that they heard us and they responded. It’s not fixed. We’ve still got a lot more work to do, but…now we’re able to continue to lift our voices and talk about how it continues to impact us, with the pandemic that’s going on and how people are risking their lives just to be out there.”

Staff photo by Jay Westcott

Just a few days before Valentine’s Day, about 650 volunteers in the Tysons area and Fairfax County made medical workers at Inova Hospital their valentine.

The nonprofit organization Volunteer Fairfax distributed about 7,000 handmade pink and red cards yesterday (Tuesday) to Inova nurses outside the Inova Heart and Vascular Institute and throughout the Inova Children’s Hospital in Falls Church.

“This many cards, from this many people, shows that the community acknowledges what we’re going through,” nurse Sabeena Jamali said.

Volunteer Fairfax has been delivering handmade Valentine’s Day cards for 10 years now, but this year, volunteers crafted 10,000 cards — more than ever before, according to Volunteer Fairfax Communications Director Lorna Clarke.

3,000 cards are earmarked for children who are in or graduating from the foster care system.

Before the novel coronavirus, the organization would take over a fire station during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend — as an homage to his legacy of service — and people would come to make cards in person, Clarke said. This typically yielded 3,000 to 5,000 cards.

She attributed the huge influx of cards this year to a practical reason — volunteers were able to do this from home — as well as a sentimental one, as appreciation has deepened in the community for healthcare workers and the sacrifices they make.

Inova is one of the largest employers in the region, but it is easy to take it for granted when driving past the campus on the way to work, Volunteer Fairfax CEO Stephen Mutty said.

“We wanted to raise awareness and say thank you,” he said, crediting Tysons for its “demographic of caring, socially engaged people.”

For Inova President Steve Narang, Valentine’s Day is a special holiday because it gives people a chance to reflect on what it means to have a connection to another person. The cards establish and reinforce a connection between a hospital worker and someone in the community.

“You could see it in their eyes, the recognition that ‘I’m still being seen,'” Narang said.

Case manager Ruth Mahat said she is going to put her Valentine up in the break room to cheer her up whenever she rushes in to grab something or has to step away because she feels overwhelmed.

“Seeing the card brings your morale up,” Mahat said. “Someone in the community is thinking about you and appreciates what you do.”

Image via Volunteer Fairfax

The number of daily reported COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County continues to drop, returning to similar case loads recorded in June.

The rolling weekly average of cases for this past week stands at 289 cases, down from a reported high of nearly 697 cases on Jan. 17. The number of daily cases has continued on a steep decline since hitting a record high of 1,485 cases on Jan. 17. Fairfax County reported just 89 cases today, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

In June, the peak seven-day average was 303 cases.

The drop in the cases is also reflected in statewide statistics. As of Feb. 7, the rolling weekly average of cases was 3,478. Although this is still higher than any weekly average before December, the overall number of cases are declining steeply.

So far, the pandemic has claimed the lives of 826 people in the Fairfax Health District, which includes Fairfax County and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church. 3,389 people have been hospitalized, and there have now been 62,502 total COVID-19 cases.

The drop comes as Gov. Ralph Northam directs all school divisions to explore options for in-person learning by March 15 and look into plans for extending school into the summer.

In Fairfax County, more than 120,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered, and 26,175 people are fully vaccinated.

Image via Virginia Department of Health

Eligible Fairfax County residents will soon have another option for getting innoculated against COVID-19, as CVS plans to start distributing vaccines at 36 stores in Virginia later this week.

CVS Health announced on Feb. 2 that it will offer the COVID-19 vaccine at its pharmacies in Virginia and 10 other states starting this Thursday (Feb. 11). The company anticipates receiving 250,000 total doses for the initial rollout of its vaccination program, which is being enabled by a partnership with the federal government.

“Our presence in communities across the country makes us an ideal partner for administering vaccines in a safe, convenient, and familiar manner,” CVS Health President and CEO Karen S. Lynch said. “This is particularly true for underserved communities, which have been a focus for us throughout the pandemic.”

Though Virginia was initially expected to receive approximately 26,000 doses that will be distributed to 28 stores, CVS spokesperson Amy Thibault told Tysons Reporter that the vaccine will be available at 36 locations across the state, including in Fairfax County.

Patch reported on Feb. 4 that the CVS at 3921 Prosperity Ave. off of Little River Turnpike will be among the stores to get the vaccine.

Thibault says a full list of the specific stores will be available through the CVS website and app once the stores start receiving shipments and appointments become available.

“Because locations and supply remain limited, we want to prevent stores from being overwhelmed by those who may seek a vaccination without making an appointment,” Thibault said.

Vaccinations will be available by appointment only. CVS has an online scheduling tool on its website and app for people to determine their eligibility and find locations offering the vaccine, but it has not opened up to Virginia yet.

CVS and Walgreens have been administering COVID-19 vaccines at long-term care facilities in Virginia, including Fairfax County, since Jan. 11 as part of the federal pharmacy partnership program.

Health officials told the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors during its health and human services committee meeting last week that 2,936 residents and 3,133 staff at 55 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in the county have gotten at least one vaccine dose so far, with four more facilities scheduled to start vaccinating residents and staff early this week.

According to Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, the Fairfax County Health Department’s director of epidemiology and population health, the two national pharmacy chains are conducting three vaccine clinics at each of the county’s long-term care facilities.

“They’ve done a fairly good job in terms of reaching people, with some facilities having 95 to 100% of their residents being vaccinated,” Schwartz said.

The Fairfax County Health Department says it will have more information to share on the CVS vaccine program for other eligible populations in the next day or so.

Photo via Google Maps

Barring an abrupt change in plans, Fairfax County Public Schools students will start returning to school buildings next week for the first time since classes resumed after winter break in January.

The Fairfax County School Board approved a new Return to School timeline last Tuesday (Feb. 2) that lets 8,000 students in special education and career and technical education programs get two days of in-person instruction and two days of virtual instruction per week starting on Feb. 16. All FCPS students will be phased into the hybrid learning model by Mar. 16, though students who choose to stay all-virtual can do so.

The school board’s decision came three days before Gov. Ralph Northam announced on Friday (Feb. 5) that all school divisions in Virginia must offer families some form of in-person learning option by Mar. 16, citing the need to prevent learning losses.

An FCPS report released in November found an uptick in failing grades during the first quarter of the 2020-2021 school year, particularly for students with disabilities and English-language learners, and research from the CDC suggests schools can deliver in-person instruction safely as long as mitigation protocols are followed, including mask-wearing and social distancing.

With COVID-19 cases declining in Fairfax County recently and FCPS staff prioritized for vaccinations, FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand expressed confidence last week that the division can pull of a successful return to in-person learning.

However, FCPS officials also said that transporting students will be a challenge due to the inability to ensure enough spacing on buses, and employees raised concerns in the past through the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers about inadequate implementation and enforcement of mitigation measures. FCPS has recorded 939 COVID-19 cases among staff, students, and visitors since Sept. 8.

Do you think FCPS is ready to restart in-person learning? Should the district move faster to expand in-person learning, or should it take a more cautious approach? Should schools be looking to resume in-person instruction at all?

All school divisions in Virginia have been directed to establish options for in-person learning by Mar. 15, Gov. Ralph Northam announced today (Friday).

The state is also encouraging school divisions to develop plans to offer some form of classroom instruction during the summer. While extending the school year will not be mandatory, the governor’s office says his administration “is in the process of determining additional resources” to support summer school, including ensuring that educators are properly compensated.

“Our children need to catch up to be ready for learning in the fall,” Northam said during a press conference. “I want our schools to do this safely, and I want them to prioritize students who needs this the most…But it’s time for this to happen. It’s critical to prevent greater learning loss and to support our children’s health and well-being.”

Virginia State Superintendent for Public Instruction Dr. James Lane and State Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver released interim guidance on Jan. 14 for local education and health officials to use as they determine when and how to offer classes and other activities to students in person.

Northam said he had a “very open, frank conversation” with superintendents from around the state before announcing the Mar. 15 deadline for offering in-person classes.

He also noted that “none of this is set in stone,” but declining COVID-19 case numbers, including testing positivity rates and hospitalizations, as well as increases in vaccinations give him confidence that schools will be able to proceed with reopening and summer school plans.

The governor’s announcement comes just three days after the Fairfax County School Board approved a plan to start phasing students into hybrid in-person learning on Feb. 16. All students who choose to get in-person classes instead of remaining all-virtual will be back in school buildings by Mar. 16 under the timeline developed by Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand.

FCPS officials have discussed the idea of extending the school year in the hopes of providing more in-person instruction and compensating for the learning losses many students have reportedly experienced as a result of distance learning. However, no official plans have been unveiled yet.

FCPS said in a statement that it has budgeted up to $30 million to support summer learning programs, and additional demand is anticipated.

“While there will be associated costs to the extended summer learning, we understand that these resources are essential to accommodate our students and staff during this unique and challenging transition period,” FCPS spokesperson Lucy Caldwell said in the statement.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new research last week that indicates schools can safely operate in-person as long as they implement and enforce mitigation measures, including mask-wearing and social distancing.

“In-person learning is critical to the current and future well-being of our children,” Oliver said. “[The Virginia Department of Health] remains committed to supporting school districts in getting kids back into classrooms as we work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and get Virginians vaccinated.”

Photo via Governor of Virginia/Facebook