Dear Friends, After receiving some questions, I realize I was not clear in my previous newsletter/post when I talked about the “site” being closed. I’m resending that email – with editing – below. I was referring to our website, not a physical site. Nothing should change if you have already pre-registered via the County system, or if you have received an appointment for a first and/or second shot. However, if you have not pre-registered for an appointment yet, you will be able to starting Tuesday, the 16th, when, hopefully, the State website will be ready for everyone to use. I am … [Read more...]
News: COVID Vaccine For 65+
Dear Friends, Many of you have likely seen this press release, but in case you have not I want to call your attention to it for two reasons: First, the very good news is that we have completed first vaccinations of most of those 75 and older in Arlington and are now beginning to vaccinate those 65 and older. While I’ve not yet gotten my notice, several people I know in the 65+ category have been invited to sign up for their vaccination. The invitations are going out in roughly the order in which they were received. You can read about it in the press … [Read more...]
February Vaccine Update
Dear Friends, While many of us are still waiting for word of our first vaccination being scheduled (including yours truly), this was a much better week for our vaccination program, and I thought perhaps my readers might like to hear some of the feedback and information I have from this week. As you know, our staff were working hard over the past week to reschedule the appointments that had been cancelled by Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) for those 75 and over. From Friday a week ago through this Tuesday, 63 of our staff made 3,191 calls and scheduled 2,336 appointments. This was a … [Read more...]
January Board Meeting, Covid Vaccines, Rosslyn & Crystal City Improvements
Dear Friends, Update on Covid Vaccines Covid vaccinations are dominating everything at the moment and understandably so. I am hopeful that the sudden change in vaccine distribution by the State late last week and the following necessary cancellation of scheduled vaccinations by Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) was the low point in the vaccine roll out; and that the vaccination process will only improve moving forward. This past week, County staff organized the information from VHC about whose appointments were cancelled and we trained several dozen staff on calling and … [Read more...]
January 23rd Vaccine Update
Dear Friends, I know many of you have received, or heard about, emails from Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) cancelling appointments for Covid vaccinations. We were just briefed on the situation by our staff at the end of today’s County Board meeting. Once the meeting is posted, you may want to watch the discussion, which began at about 12:50 pm today. VHC will no longer receive vaccines from the state. VHC will give second doses of vaccine to those who already have had their first shot, but they are cancelling all other appointments. Arlington County will now receive … [Read more...]
MLK, Jr. Day, Vaccine Update & Inauguration Day
Dear Friends,I hope everyone has had a good Martin Luther King Jr. Day and found a way to recognize his life and legacy. I was pleased to attend some of our programs today and want to give a shout out to Volunteer Arlington for their great work putting together a good virtual program. The pandemic and George Floyd’s murder have helped put the issue of racial equity front and center.Vaccine UpdateI know many of us are worried about getting vaccinated and some have experienced problems with our on-line sign up link. We are doing our best to fix issues as we become aware of them. For … [Read more...]
Updated Vaccination Information
Dear Friends, Following Governor Northam’s announcement yesterday afternoon, we updated the County’s COVID Vaccine page with information about phases 1b and 1c. We have also created a new registration page with Information on the priority groups and links to the registration forms: https://www.arlingtonva.us/covid-19/vaccines/registration/ so you can easily pre-register for your vaccination (if you are in Groups 1b or 1c). I expect more information to be coming over the next days and again remind people that we will be holding a public Covid … [Read more...]
Arlington Curfew Tonight
Dear Friends, I’m sure we are all watching with distress the events downtown at the U.S. Capitol. In cooperation with the Governor, we are putting in place a curfew for Arlington from 6pm this evening to 6am tomorrow. Alexandria has the same curfew. The press release below itemizes the details. Please note that there are important exceptions to the curfew for people going to and from work, in transit to home, seeking medical help, etc. We want as many people as possible to be home and safe to ease the work of our public safety personnel tonight. Thank you and stay … [Read more...]
DC Protests, Vaccination Work Session & Board Organizational Meeting
Dear Friends, The new year is off to a busy start. I wanted to share a couple of time sensitive items with you.DC Protests – January 6thWe are asking all residents to stay safe and refrain from counter-protesting in Washington D.C. on January 6, tomorrow, when far-right extremist groups are expected to gather in large numbers to protest what they falsely claim to be widespread voter fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election. Mayor Bowser has asked that people not come to the city to counter-protest and we strongly support her request. Vaccinations and our next … [Read more...]
Happy New Year!
Dear Friends, As this most challenging of years draws to a close, I want to wish everyone a healthy and better New Year. My daughter kindly put in calligraphy the quote from Vaclav Havel that I’ve had taped up on my wall for most of this year. It’s an important message. There has been a lot of love and truth shown this year by so many people from all walks of life as we helped each other get through the pandemic however we could. May we build on the positive things that got us through this year to make a better world in 2021,Libby … [Read more...]
