Public Urged To Be Patient About COVID-19 Vaccinations

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County public health officials said that unless more COVID-19 vaccine doses became available, it could take more than 30 weeks before the initial priority groups are all vaccinated

During a Tuesday afternoon County Board work session, Dr. Reuben Varghese, Arlington's public health director, told members vaccinations to date have been focused on Arlington residents in the Phase 1b priority group. This includes frontline essential workers and residents 75 and older. Those individuals have been encouraged to preregister online to receive an invitation to schedule an appointment.

Varghese confirmed that it would likely take until the March-April timeframe before the county had vaccinated enough people in the Phase 1b groups for it to consider opening up registration for other groups. He added that it all depended on the county receiving additional vaccines.

"We're getting a little under 3,000 doses a week, 2,750, and just being at the residential portion of 1b, if we were to do it, that works out to about 100,000 people in that category who are potentially eligible," he said.

If the county did not see an increase in doses, Varghese said it would take approximately 30 weeks to vaccinate everyone in the Phase 1b group.

"Having said that, we do know that they expect more doses to come at some point," he said. "I just can't tell you when that is. So, as a worse case scenario planner and to make sure people's expectations and reality match, I want to make sure people realize it's going to take time."

If the county were to receive enough vaccine, Varghese said it was ready to vaccinate as many as 2,000 people a day.

"What we have been told is that the state expects to receive 105,000 doses per week for at least the next four weeks," he said. "So, that's what we're planning at this this point, for the 2,750 doses, which is per capita based on that allocation to the state. That is how we're doing our planning at this point."

The county had partnered with Virginia Hospital Center to vaccinate residents 75 and older. At the end of January. VHC was forced to cancel appointments when it ran out of vaccine doses. Since then, the county has been working to reschedule appointments and to vaccinate those individuals who are 75 and older.

Arlington has also opened up pre-registration for eligible residents in the Phase 1c group, which includes residents 65 and older and residents 18-64 with medical conditions and disabilities. Varghese recommended that anyone in that group talk the county's online survey in order to pre-register. They will be notified when it's their turn to schedule an appointment.

"People will get their opportunity, we're just going to have to be patient about how and when in this process, and the same thing with 18 to 64 with chronic medical conditions," Varghese said.

For the week ending Jan. 30, Arlington County had received 7,875 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, of which 7,624 have been administered for a 96.81 percent utilization rate.

During the same time period, the county had received 1,900 second doses, 529 of which have been administered. The remaining 1,371 doses have been set aside for people who have already received or scheduled to receive their first dose.

Regarding whether leftover vaccines were being wasted, County Manager Mark Schwartz told board members that they were not. Leftover vaccine was administered on Monday, the same day the county received an additional 2,700 doses.

Aaron Miller, director of public safety communications and emergency management, reported that call volume to to the county's COVID-19 hotline (703-228-7999) has been steadily increasing, with an average of 600-700 calls per day.

Virginia Department of Health confirmed 61 additional cases of COVID-19, the illness associated with the new coronavirus, Wednesday in the Arlington Health District. That's up from the 37 new cases reported on Tuesday.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Arlington Health District stands at 11,867

No new deaths were reported in the Arlington Health District on Wednesday. The total number of COVID-19-related deaths in Arlington stands at 203. A total of 735 people have been hospitalized in Arlington due to COVID-19.

As of Wednesday morning, 26,725 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been received in the Arlington Health District and 15,410 doses have been administered. Statewide, 895,005 doses of the vaccine have been administered and 136,731 people have been fully vaccinated.

VDH reported that 182,384 COVID-19 tests have been taken in Arlington, with a 8.0 percent positivity rate. Statewide there have been 6,599,846 COVID-19 tests taken, with a 10.7 percent positivity rate.

There have been 49 outbreaks of COVID-19 in the Arlington Health District. There have been 27 outbreaks at long-term care facilities, 11 in a congregate setting, one at a correctional facility, four in healthcare settings, four 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 916. There have been 292 reported coronavirus cases in Arlington involving health care workers.

There have been 513,339 total cases statewide, according to data reported by the Virginia Department of Health. In Virginia, there have been 6,575 coronavirus-related deaths to date. There have been a total of 21,658 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

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Globally, more than 103.9 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and over 2.2 million people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Wednesday morning. In the United States, more than 26.4 million people have been infected and over 446,000 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 ...

• Arlington Public Health Answers Your COVID-19 Vaccine Questions
• CVS Plans To Offer Vaccine Appointments At Select Virginia Stores
• Arlington Coronavirus Update: 2 New Deaths; 37 More Cases
• Arlington Coronavirus Update: No New Deaths; 78 More Cases
• Virginia Coronavirus Cases Below Average Due To Dashboard Upgrade
• Virginia Tops 500K Coronavirus Cases, Deaths Increase