COVID-19 Vaccination Scheduling To Reopen After Temporary Delay

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington Public Health is in the process of reopening appointment scheduling for COVID-19 vaccinations Monday, after it was forced to put scheduling on hold on Friday due to a lack of available vaccine doses.

Bad weather across Virginia last week delayed Arlington from receiving all of its weekly allocation of 2,750 first doses. This forced public health officials to temporarily postpone scheduling appointments on Friday and through the weekend.

As of 12 noon on Monday, Arlington has received its initial batch of first doses for the week and health officials were in the processes of restarting the scheduling of appointments for residents who had registered to be vaccinated, according to a county spokeswoman.

Eligible groups in phase 1b are all residents 65 and older, Virginians ages 16 to 64 with underlying conditions, certain essential worker groups, and people living in homeless shelters, correctional facilities and migrant labor camps. People in phase 1a, health-care workers and long-term care facility residents, are also eligible for the coronavirus vaccination.

Arlington residents who are eligible to be vaccinated and who wish to pre-register are encouraged to do so through vaccinate.virginia.gov. Commonwealth residents who have pre-registered through their local health departments are being automatically added to the statewide system and do not need to register again.

Virginia Department of Health confirmed 24 additional cases of COVID-19 Monday in Arlington. That's down from the 65 new cases reported on Sunday. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Arlington Health District stands at 12,894.

One new death was reported in the Arlington Health District on Monday. The total number of COVID-19-related deaths in Arlington stands at 214. A total of 758 people have been hospitalized in Arlington due to COVID-19.

The positivity rate of testing in the Arlington Health District for COVID-19 has continued to decline since it peaked at 13.4 percent on Jan. 2.

Virginia Department of Health reported that 202,194 COVID-19 tests have been taken in Arlington, with a 5.9 percent positivity rate. Statewide there have been 7,228,594 COVID-19 tests taken, with a 8.1 percent positivity rate.

As of Monday morning, 31,027 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered and 9,978 people have been fully vaccinated in the Arlington Health District. Statewide, 1,602,502 doses of the vaccine have been administered and 481,287 people have been fully vaccinated.

There have been 53 outbreaks of COVID-19 in the Arlington Health District. There have been 27 outbreaks at long-term care facilities, 13 in a congregate setting, one at a correctional facility, four in health-care settings, six at a child care facilities, one at a college or a university, and one at a K-12 facility. The total number of cases associated with an outbreak is 951. There have been 301 reported coronavirus cases in Arlington involving health-care workers.

There have been 565,270 total cases statewide, according to data reported by the Virginia Department of Health. In Virginia, there have been 7,486 coronavirus-related deaths to date. There have been a total of 23,530 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

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Globally, more than 111.5 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and over 2.4 million people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Monday morning. In the United States, more than 28.1 million people have been infected and over 499,000 people have died from COVID-19.

VDH breaks down the number of cases and deaths in Arlington by age, race and ethnicity. The breakdown by age is as follows:

Arlington residents should take the following actions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. An alcohol-based hand sanitizer can be used if soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Also see ...

• 134 Coronavirus Deaths Reported In Virginia, Cases Trend Down
• County Manager Proposes $17.5M COVID-19 Contingency Fund
• Winter Weather To Delay Over 100K Vaccine Doses For Virginia
• Virginia Coronavirus Update: 2,304 Additional Cases Reported
• Data Migration To VA Vaccination System Is Slow Going
• Virginia Coronavirus Vaccine Hotline Joins Statewide Online Form
• Arlington Coronavirus Update: Positivity Rate Lowest In 3 Months
• Arlington Coronavirus Update: More Than 26K Vaccine Doses Given
• Virginia's Statewide Coronavirus Vaccine Pre-Registration Open