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The epidemic continues to spread through the population of Arlington, but at least for the time being, the days of public health facilities being overwhelmed seem to be in the rearview mirror.
“There’s still a lot of Covid out there, but luckily we have a lot of tools to prevent and treat it,” said Dr. Ruben Varghese, the county’s director of public health, in a Sept. 20 update to county board members. .
For the past four weeks, Arlington has been in the “low” risk category defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which primarily looks at a community’s ability to withstand an outbreak of cases that could overwhelm medical facilities.
“We’re doing pretty well on that,” Varghese said, noting that Arlington still ranks in the “high” category of the CDC’s old (community transmission level) category.
As of Sept. 10, Arlington has recorded nearly 33,500 confirmed cases of COVID for the year, especially early in the year, but still nearly double the 17,400 cases expected in 2021. Variations that tend to move easily from person to person without causing the carnage seen earlier in the epidemic.
County health officials said in 2016 that They reported 55 deaths due to Covid in 2022, but the death toll remains a subject of controversy as it is impossible to distinguish between those who died directly from Covid and those who died of something else but were exposed to Covid. Their system at the time. (There will be 102 Covid-related deaths in Arlington in 2021 and 181 — with far fewer reported cases — in 2020.)
In the year The 33,498 cases reported in 2022 will probably greatly underestimate the number of people infected, some even more often, because more testing is now being done at home, not always, and not necessarily, being reported to health authorities.
“We certainly don’t handle all cases,” Varghese said.
In terms of vaccination rates, Arlington officials report that 85.5 percent of county residents have received at least one Covid vaccine and 77.4 percent have received at least two. About 35,000 county residents chose not to get vaccinated, according to county data.
Among adults, the lowest vaccination rates among eligible individuals were found in the 25 to 35 and 85 and older groups. Immunization rates for children ages 5 to 11 are running below the overall average.
While Varghese doesn’t rule out a large increase in the coming months as residents spend more time indoors, for now, according to the CDC’s current results, all of Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland and the District of Columbia are in the “green” — the lowest — risk level.
“Let’s hope so [continues] For as long as possible,” said Varghese.
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