Arlington At Highest COVID-19 Positivity Rate Since Early January

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County’s COVID-19 positivity rate is hovering around 14.7 percent, the county’s highest since early January, when the highly contagious omicron variant was spreading rapidly after the holidays.

As of Monday, Arlington County remains in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s medium community level of transmission, the county said.

County officials are recommending that residents use layered prevention strategies to keep them from contracting the disease.

In early April, Arlington County climbed into the medium community transmission category for COVID-19, the first jurisdiction in Northern Virginia to move into the higher risk level, according to the CDC.

As of late May, all the major jurisdictions in Northern Virginia and the Fredericksburg area had climbed into the medium community level of transmission.

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association on Monday reported 459 hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 in the state and 55 people COVID-19 patients in hospital ICUs.

The number is far below the 7-day moving average of 3,875 hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 in mid-January, when the state set a record high since the start of the pandemic.

After federal approval, Arlington County and other providers are offering the COVID-19 vaccine booster to children aged 5 to 11 after completing their COVID-19 vaccine primary series. All residents can use this CDC calculator to learn if it is time to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster.

Arlington County said it is preparing to administer COVID-19 vaccines to children under 5 once they are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the CDC and the Virginia Department of Health.

County libraries and community centers are offering free, at-home COVID-19 rapid tests during normal business hours, in addition to the county’s no-cost, no-appointment PCR COVID-19 testing. Residents are also encouraged to order free at-home tests through the federal government.

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