One in seven Fairfax County employees can’t afford an adequate standard of living in the county where they work, a report released last week by a Richmond-based think tank found.

Published on July 21 by The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis (TCI), which advocates for public policy that advances racial and economic justice in Virginia, the “Rebuilding Stronger for Fairfax County” report comes as county leaders continue discussions on a collective bargaining ordinance for public employees.

Comparing government workers’ salaries to the cost of living and what their private-sector counterparts earn, the study authors say their findings support the need for collective bargaining, where employee unions can negotiate compensation, working conditions, and other terms of their employment.

“The fair and clear standards provided by unionization particularly help Black and Latinx workers,” TCI Research Director Laura Goren said in a statement. “Women, who make up the majority of local government workers, would also particularly benefit from collective bargaining.”

Using the Economic Policy Institute’s family budget calculator, TCI determined that a single person would need an annual income of at least $57,052 to afford a “modest yet adequate” standard of living in Fairfax County, including housing, transportation, health care, taxes, and other necessary expenses.

A family with one parent and two children would need to earn at least $106,395 a year.

According to the report, however, the bottom 20% of Fairfax County’s workforce in terms of salary, including part-time employees, make between $40,000 and $60,000 annually, leaving them unable to support themselves.

Only the top 20% of workers, who earn under $120,000, can cover the cost of living for a family of three.

The findings came after TCI released a similar report on Loudoun County, where one in five county workers can’t afford an adequate standard of living. The Board of Supervisors there voted on July 20 to proceed with crafting a collective bargaining ordinance.

According to TCI, public employees in Virginia are typically paid 29.9% less than what they would get in the private sector, a gap that widens to 33.4% in Northern Virginia. When pension and health care benefits are considered, the difference in compensation narrows slightly to 28% for the Commonwealth as a whole.

As the cost of living has risen, so have turnovers and vacancies, which went from 3.4% of all Fairfax County government positions in fiscal year 2007 to 8% of all positions in FY 2016, according to a county “lines of business” review of employee compensation.

While it won’t close the gap between public and private wages, the TCI report says giving public workers the ability to collectively bargain would help address inequities, boosting pay by 5 to 8%.

“This report provides rigorous research that backs up what essential workers have always known to be true,” Tammie Wondong, president of SEIU Virginia 512’s Fairfax County chapter, said. “Having a seat at the table through collective bargaining allows us to advance equity and build an even stronger community where every working family can thrive.”

SEIU’s Fairfax County Government Employees Union Chapter, which represents more than 2,000 workers, has been advocating for a collective bargaining ordinance since the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation giving localities that authority in 2020, though the law didn’t take effect until May 1 of this year.

County staff released an initial draft ordinance on May 25, and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has been debating the scope and details of the proposal for the past two months. The most recent draft came before the board’s personnel committee on July 20.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay echoed Wondong’s sentiments, saying the TCI report confirms that collective bargaining will reduce inequity, support quality jobs, and improve county services.

“I’m proud of the steps we’ve taken to ensure a great county workforce, including a $15 living wage, paid family leave, initiatives to increase workforce housing, and a strong retirement system,” McKay said. “Collective bargaining will further help us attract and retain great employees to ensure we continue delivering quality public services for our community.”

Fairfax County Human Resources Director Cathy Spage said at last week’s committee meeting that when the board meets on Sept. 14, county staff will ask it to authorize a public hearing on the proposed collective bargaining ordinance on Oct. 5.

On June 26, Reston Hospital Center announced that it had zero COVID-19 patients for the first time since the pandemic arrived in Fairfax County 470 days earlier.

That moment of celebration would prove to be too-short-lived, but it still provided an occasion for top Reston Hospital officials to reflect on how far they have come over the past 18 months — and how much more work may lie ahead.

The Virginia Department of Health confirmed the Commonwealth’s first COVID case on March 7, 2020, but Reston Hospital officials believe they had at least one case about a month earlier than that.

“Because of our proximity to Dulles, we started seeing patients very, very early,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tom Taghon told Reston Now in an interview last week at the hospital.

He recalls one patient in particular who had flown internationally and was sent to their emergency room in early February 2020.

“[The patient] was probably the first COVID patient we had, though because of the [lack] of testing capabilities, we couldn’t prove it,” he said.

Early in the pandemic, individuals who tested positive at Dulles International Airport were often brought to Reston Hospital.

Now that vaccines are available and scientists have a clearer understanding of how the novel coronavirus functions, Taghon notes that it may be easy to forget how uncertain those early days of the pandemic were and how much was being discovered about COVID every day.

“What the public may not fully appreciate was that this was a really… a rapidly evolving situation and that was a real challenge for us,” Taghon said. “We would literally change pretty significant policies overnight because we learned something new. Things changed quickly.”

Those early experiences led the local hospital to be among the first, they say, to restrict visitation, require masks, and to realize that it didn’t matter if a patient had traveled to a hotspot.

“The disease was spreading very rapidly [that] pretty early we made the conclusion it doesn’t really matter if they were actually in China or not,” said Taghon.

Soon, much of the other things that were happening at the hospital — surgeries, screenings, and other care — slowed down to a trickle. Many of the staff working in other units came over to help with the ICU.

Monica Oakcrum, the director of critical care at Reston Hospital, says it was a real challenge explaining to families why visitation was restricted in those early days.

“Families were frantic understandably and it was a real struggle,” Oakcrum said. “But we [had to] protect our patients, the community, and our staff.”

The stress and burnout was intense for doctors, nurses, and staff, but frontline healthcare workers heard from the community how much they were appreciated.

In the earlier days, Restonians would come out and cheer during shift changes. Meals and handmade cards from children were delivered to the hospital.

“Those things really did make a huge difference,” Oakcrum said. Read More

Google Announces Vaccine Mandate — Google, which employs more than 420 people in Virginia, has extended its work-from-home policy through Oct. 18, but COVID-19 vaccinations will be required for workers who return to offices. A spokesperson told Reston Now that the pandemic has not affected the tech company’s real estate plans, which include an expansion at Reston Station. [CNBC/NBC4]

E-Scooters Spotted in Reston Town Center — At least 15 rentable, battery-powered Bird scooters have been set up in Reston Town Center as part of the company’s Fairfax County deployment. Restonian deems RTC “actually a decent place for these scooters” and looks forward to using them to “effortlessly scoot from the Apple Store to the former site of the Macaroni Grill to pay our #respects some day in the not-so-distant future.” [Restonian]

Taste of Reston Will Be “Reimagined” — The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce is turning its annual Taste of Reston food festival into a single-day event with reduced capacity that will unfold throughout Reston, rather than the usual multi-day affair at Reston Town Center. With more pressing issues weighing on patrons and restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a cancellation last year, the chamber feels “this is the time to reimagine how we produce future Taste of Reston events.” [Patch]

Herndon Police Chief Advocates for Mental Health Resources — As president of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police & Foundation, Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard joined other law enforcement and mental health professionals on Tuesday (July 27) to urge the state to allocate more resources to mental health services. She argued that police shouldn’t be tasked with handling mental health issues. [Patch]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

Fairfax County will use an estimated $10 million in COVID-19 relief money for another major grant program aimed at helping community partners keep their doors open.

The Board of Supervisors approved the Active and Thriving Community Grants Program at its meeting yesterday (Tuesday), where grants will range from $2,000 to $18,000 depending on the size of the business or nonprofit.

While businesses have pushed to reopen, many continue to struggle, and COVID-19 concerns persist. The grants target child care providers, community-based safety net providers, youth recreational or educational programs, youth athletic groups, and pools.

“As someone who visits a child care center everyday, they’re still operating under COVID restrictions that other businesses aren’t,” Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw said during the board meeting. “So, they’re still dealing with that in terms of capacity and PPE [personal protective equipment] and masking.”

County staff reported that many community-based organizations “continue to struggle economically” due to COVID-19 and most have had to cancel or significantly alter major fundraising events.

“For many, giving levels have not returned to prior levels,” county staff wrote in the meeting agenda. “For many donors, giving patterns have changed. Even where giving has increased, it has not made up for lost revenue or increased expenses.”

Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services Deputy Director Sarah Allen told the board that the application period for the new grant program will launch by the end of August.

To be eligible, recipients will be required to show that they had a 15% decline in gross revenue in 2020 compared to 2019 or a 15% increase in expenditures directly tied to costs due to the pandemic.

The new grants are projected to allocate:

• $4.3 million for child care providers
• $1.9 million for community-based safety net providers
• $1.8 million for youth recreational or educational programs
• $1.5 million for youth athletic organizations
• $500,000 for pools

“A lot of these organizations survived through the pandemic because the…volunteer board members or the parents or community members involved dipped into their own pockets to keep things going so they didn’t have to go out of business,” Walkinshaw said.

The money comes as the county is finalizing awards for its PIVOT program, which will provide over $24.4 million in grants from the American Rescue Plan Act to businesses in the retail, food, and lodging sectors and other organizations financially affected by the pandemic.

When the county created the PIVOT program on June 8, staff were also looking for ways to provide additional assistance. A county survey of child care programs conducted in March found that over half of respondents did not know how long they would be able to stay open without financial support.

“The potential closure of child care programs could come at a time when more parents are returning to work, impacting working parents and their children, employers, and the child care workforce and their families,” the staff report said.

In awarding the grants, the county expects to use a priority measure related to vulnerable populations to pick recipients in the child care and pool categories. The remaining awards would be determined by a lottery system.

It wasn’t immediately clear how exactly the priority measure would work, but the county said staff will look at the social and economic conditions that made populations more vulnerable to COVID-19 as well as recent economic, health, and other data relevant to the pandemic’s impact.

Similar to the PIVOT grants, the county will use a third-party vendor — the Latino Economic Development Corp. — for the online grant administration portal and awards. Advertising and outreach in multiple languages will begin before the August launch.

“This grant program will prioritize disproportionately impacted populations and communities wherever possible,” county staff said.

Photo via Fairfax County/Facebook

The Town of Herndon is looking to update decades-old rules involving accessory dwelling units to make the process less burdensome for homeowners.

The Herndon Planning Commission held a virtual public hearing on Monday (July 26) on a proposed ordinance that the town council will ultimately vote on whether to approve.

“Our current regulations are 38 years old,” the town’s zoning administrator, David Stromberg, said, adding that the age of the existing ordinance is not problematic in and of itself, but the town has changed over the decades.

In the works since April, the decision to revisit the rules for ADUs — smaller dwellings that exist on the same property as a primary residence — was prompted by frustrations expressed by some residents who recently underwent the permitting process, according to Stromberg.

Neighboring governments have already loosened restrictions. Fairfax County revised its rules for accessory units, which it calls accessory living units, as part of a larger zoning overhaul this summer, dropping a requirement that the units be restricted to older adults and people with disabilities.

Herndon also plans to remove those restrictions.

The town’s planning commission is considering making the process less restrictive in other ways, too, such as by allowing many types of ADU additions to occur by right as opposed to requiring an approval process. That could also include allowing second kitchens under certain circumstances.

The town has also noted that smaller homes may be confined by the existing code, so officials are considering possible changes to square footage requirements.

Currently, attached, internal, and detached units can be up to 1,200 square feet or 35% of the gross floor area of a principal dwelling unit, whichever is less. So, if a home is 1,000 square feet, you are currently limited to a 350 square-foot addition, Stromberg noted.

That could change to 1,200 square feet or 40% of a principal dwelling unit for attached and internal dwelling units and be a one-size limit of 800 square feet for detached dwelling units.

Among a variety of issues, the commission has also been looking at limiting the number of wet bars as well as possibly dropping an extra parking space requirement for an ADU if it’s within 0.25 or 0.5 miles of the Herndon Metro station.

Officials have time to continue their review: The second phase of Metro’s Silver Line project has faced delays with no confident expectations any longer for when the new stations will actually open.

Only one member from the public commented during the hearing: resident Gordon Dean, who said that he’s a strong proponent of accessory dwelling units and hopes future ones could help with Section 8 housing.

The planning commission is continuing the matter to its Aug. 23 meeting, which it plans to hold in person.

(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) Face masks are now required when students are inside Fairfax County Public School buildings, regardless of an individual’s vaccination status, the school district announced this morning (Wednesday).

FCPS shared its plans for mask-wearing and other health protocols in an email to families and staff and on its Return to School webpage.

“Masks are an essential tool in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting those unable to be vaccinated,” the message says. “To ensure a safe start to the school year, masks will be required for everyone, regardless of vaccination status, inside FCPS buildings.”

The announcement comes a week after Virginia’s health and education departments released new guidance giving local school systems discretion to determine their own mask rules, though the state recommended that elementary schools at least adopt universal masking with children younger than 12 still not eligible to get vaccinated.

A statewide mandate requiring all children 5 and older to wear masks while in school expired on Sunday (July 25).

According to a graphic on the FCPS website, fully vaccinated staff will not be required to wear masks when no students are present in a school building, and masks will not be required for either vaccinated or unvaccinated individuals outdoors.

Masks will be required on school buses in keeping with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s federal mask mandate for public transportation.

FCPS says its COVID-19 health guidelines for the upcoming school year, which will begin on Aug. 23, are consistent with federal, state, and county guidance. The rules also apply to the expanded summer school programs that are continuing into mid-August.

“Universal masking is the most effective way to keep our staff and students safe and feeling confident — and also to keep our school buildings open for five days a week of in-person instruction for all students this fall,” an FCPS spokesperson said in a statement. “The universal mask policy is in line with local, state and national guidance and takes into account the fact that many of our students are not eligible for the vaccine or who have not yet been vaccinated for other reasons.”

In addition to sharing its plans for face masks, FCPS announced that it will not regularly test staff and students for COVID-19, instead asking anyone who enters a school building to “self-assess and stay home if they are feeling ill or experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19.”

Unlike last year, students will not be required to go into quarantine if they are exposed to someone who tests positive for COVID-19. The CDC updated its contact tracing guidelines earlier this month with an exemption for kindergarten through 12th grade students in a classroom setting.

After several weeks of loosening restrictions, a surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide has prompted a return of health protocols that many had hoped the availability of vaccines would relegate to the past.

The CDC officially amended its mask guidelines yesterday (Tuesday) to state that even fully vaccinated individuals should wear masks indoors in areas with high or substantial transmission, citing evidence that the delta variant can be spread by vaccinated people.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has directed County Executive Bryan Hill to evaluate the possibility of adopting a vaccine mandate for county government employees when they fully return to workplaces this fall.

FCPS did not comment when asked whether a similar approach is being considered for school staff, but it said in this morning’s announcement that “the most important thing we can all do to keep our schools safe and open all year is to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as we are eligible.”

FCPS has partnered with the Fairfax County Health Department to bring vaccination clinics to schools, including three scheduled for August:

• Wednesday, Aug. 4: 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Herndon Elementary School, 630 Dranesville Rd., Herndon
• Thursday, Aug. 5: 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Justice High School, 3301 Peace Valley ln., Falls Church
• Friday, Aug. 6: 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Liberty Middle School, 6801 Union Mill Rd., Clifton

According to the county health department, more than 63% of all Fairfax Health District residents have received at least one vaccine dose, including 72.8% of residents aged 12 to 17.

Hundreds of electric scooters have started popping up around Fairfax County after the county announced last week that it had approved two vendors for its shared mobility device program.

Bird and Superpedestrian’s LINK can each have up to 300 scooters in the county, but depending on usage, that number could go up to a combined 1,200 scooters for the two companies. The devices are available for rent, costing $1 to unlock with rates depending on ride time.

Bird has discounts for low-income and older residents as well as veterans and other users, and the company already listed the devices on its app. As of mid-morning Tuesday (July 27), clusters of scooters were listed in Annandale as well as West Falls Church and near Lake Barcroft.

Superpedestrian says it plans to make its scooters available this fall.

“Like bicycles, e-scooters can be used on a highway, sidewalk, shared-use path, roadway, or crosswalk,” the county said in a news release.

The only restrictions that the companies have limited the scooters to maximum speeds of 10 miles per hour, and they can’t be used on sidewalks or crosswalks with signage banning shared mobility devices.

The county said Tuesday such signage hasn’t been placed so far.

The county says users should leave scooters parked in areas that don’t impede normal car or foot traffic. People who violate the county’s rules can face a misdemeanor and fine up to $50 for the first offense and up to $500 for each subsequent offense.

“When riding an e-scooter, use the sidewalk when possible,” county transportation spokesperson Anna Nissinen said in a statement. “Remember, if you’re riding on the sidewalk, you are required to yield the right of way to pedestrians! If there is no sidewalk or other off-street path to use, you may ride a scooter on the road if the speed limit is 25 mph or less.”

She also noted that e-scooter users should stay as far to the right as practicable and use the bike lane if there is one.

The Board of Supervisors approved the devices in November 2019, placing rules on operations as it noted concerns about scooters possibly being abandoned.

To help address issues, the board is requiring $5,000 bonds from companies operating in the county. The money can be used if county staff have to remove and dispose of abandoned scooters.

“If you notice an e-scooter parked in an inappropriate place or left on private property, you can contact the device operator listed on the e-scooter and the operator must remove it,” the county said, noting that people can email [email protected] to report any issues.

Near Arlington National Cemetery, pedestrians and cyclists can at times see rideshare scooters abandoned along trails, scattered horizontally on the grass.

Bird spokesperson Courtney Black said in a statement that the company looks to educate riders with proper scooter etiquette, reminding them to not leave scooters in the public right-of-way, ensuring that sidewalks, driveways, and fire hydrants are accessible.

The company also allows members to use its Community Mode feature to report issues, which can involve things such as damaged or poorly parked scooters. Bird reviews the reports and sends someone to respond.

When asked about the county’s concerns with abandoned scooters, Superpedestrian says it has worked with cities across the U.S. with similar requirements where it operates.

“We’re proud that we’ve never been asked to leave a city or stop operation,” spokesperson Jamie Perkins said in a statement.

To address potential issues, the company has an in-house fleet team of local workers to manage operations in a timely way, using technology to make sure scooters are parked according to requirements and re-parked when needed to ensure availability and prevent them from stacking up in one place.

Superpedestrian is assessing how many scooters it will place in the area, working with Fairfax County as it scales up operations.

“We prioritize our service to areas with critical connections to public transit, areas with parking congestion and business demand, and also serve underserved areas,” Perkins wrote.

CDC Updates Mask Guidance — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends masks indoors in places with high or substantial COVID-19 transmission and in schools nationwide, regardless of an individual’s vaccination status. The Virginia Department of Health told Reston Now that it is analyzing the new guidance. “We continue to emphasize that the only way out of this pandemic is through vaccination,” VDH said in a statement. [Associated Press]

Plastic Bag Tax Public Hearing Scheduled — The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors authorized a public hearing for 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 14 to gather community input on a proposed five-cent tax on disposable plastic bags. If the ordinance is approved, Fairfax County would be the second locality in Virginia to adopt a bag tax. [Fairfax County Government]

Reston Woman Freed After Being Trapped Under Car — Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel extricated a woman who was found trapped under her car in a parking lot in the 1700 block of Reston Parkway around 11:58 p.m. on Monday (July 26). Police believe she had failed to fully shift into park, leading the car to roll backward into her after she exited the vehicle. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital to get treatment for injuries that were not life-threatening. [Patch]

Metro to Tweak Railcar Announcements — “Metro is changing the announcements on its railcars at the request of its Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC). The new message moves the most important information, what train line and destination it is, to the front…Phil Posner, chair of the AAC, says the change is beneficial for those with low vision, hearing, or low mobility and people new to the system.” [DCist]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

Reston Association is putting together a five-year plan for capital improvement projects as a number of decades-old facilities are in need of upgrades.

At last week’s Board of Directors meeting, staff provided a draft that details the capital improvement projects facing the organization over the next five years.

In much the same vein as one put together by other localities like the town of Herndon, the document will detail the cost, timeline, and designs of both major projects — ones that will cost over $500,000 — and minor ones.

“It includes a strategic plan…how we currently fund our projects, what are the major projects, and outlines all capital spending,” RA Director of Capital Projects Chris Schumaker said.

While the draft was provided to board members, it is not expected to be made public until before the Board of Directors budget work session on Aug. 18, when it will be discussed more at length, confirms RA spokesperson Mike Leone.

This plan comes at a vital time for RA, as the board engages in a series of budget work sessions that could result in an increase in assessments for members.

The potential increase is being contemplated due to a rise in operating expenses and the number of capital improvement projects that are being undertaken over the next several years. Back in March, a recreation facility work group determined that some of RA’s decades-old facilities are in dire need of renovations and work.

There are currently eight active capital projects and another 30 that are scheduled, according to RA’s website.

The ongoing projects include the Hook Road tennis courts, which are expected to be completed by mid-August.

The renovations will turn two tennis courts into pickleball courts, which are expected to be completed in time for Reston’s first “Paddle Battle” tournament. In addition, construction on four footbridges will start next month and be completed early next year, Leone tells Reston Now.

There’s also the much-discussed renovation of Lake Thoreau pool, which received final approval from RA’s design review board last week. Construction on the $3.5 million project is now supposed to start in November — a four-month delay from initial estimates — with a grand opening expected for May 2023.

While new pools may be opening, there’s a chance several may be closing.

In May, RA staff recommended that four neighborhood pools be “seriously considered for repurposing,” which could mean closure, due to budgetary concerns and low usage. RA is currently collecting community feedback on that proposal.

More children are participating in Reston Association’s summer camps this year than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

After canceling the program last year for the first time in its more than 40-year history, Reston Camps has seen enrollment for 2021 exceed where it was at the end of summer 2019, RA Director of Recreation and Environmental Education Laura Kowalski told Reston Now.

RA declined to share exact attendance numbers, citing “competitive business reasons,” but Kowalski says it has been “a very good camp year” even with some COVID-19 protocols still in place.

“It has been wonderful to have the program run this summer, to see the smiles from both campers and staff after a tough year,” Kowalski said.

In fact, enrollment has been so strong that, in some cases, RA has added additional sessions and staff to handle the demand.

The aquatics camp and watercraft camp — one of several new offerings that were originally planned for the 2020 season — have been especially popular, as have the tennis camps, which added more coaches and camp counselors.

“It’s sort of across the board that we’ve had good involvement,” Kowalski said.

With the camp registration period opening on June 1, the enrollment increase came as declining COVID-19 case levels and rising vaccination numbers suggested this summer would represent an emergence from the pandemic’s shadows, though the delta variant’s spread has recently started to temper that optimism.

The end of Virginia’s capacity and social distancing requirements on May 28 ahead of Memorial Day weekend meant that Reston Camps didn’t have to impose restrictions on attendance as initially anticipated, according to Kowalski.

However, RA is still following health recommendations from the Virginia Department of Social Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for camps, which need different rules given the number of children involved, many of them too young to be eligible for the authorized vaccines.

As part of its COVID-19 procedures, Reston Camps requires participants and staff to wear face masks at all times except when outdoors and maintaining six feet of distance. Staffers have some discretion for when campers can remove their masks, such as when they’re around or in water.

Staff members are also frequently cleaning and sanitizing high-touch surfaces, and children are allowed to carry a small container of hand sanitizer.

According to Kowalski, there have been no reported instances of campers or staff contracting COVID-19 since the camping season began in mid-June, though if there were, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) would prevent RA from disclosing that information.

“We have not had to close any camps,” she said.

The RA website says all camps are eligible for a full refund, including deposits, due to COVID-19.

While the camps are largely unchanged from past years, aside from the presence of masks, one alteration that Kowalski says will become permanent is the use of virtual orientations.

RA onboarded 406 seasonal staff who work anywhere from 10 to 40 hours a week in its aquatics, camp, and tennis departments this year. Having part of their orientations online instead of in-person resulted in a quicker, more efficient, and more flexible process that could accommodate their varying schedules.

“It was well received by our onboarding staff as well as the supervisors administering the orientation,” Kowalski said. “…It is something that we will continue in future years.”

Reston Camps last through Aug. 20. A fundraiser by RA’s nonprofit arm, Friends of Reston, is still open to help children who would otherwise be unable to afford to attend.

(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) Fairfax County could require all of its employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 when they return to offices this fall.

During their meeting today (Tuesday), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion brought by Chairman Jeff McKay directing County Executive Bryan Hill to evaluate whether to implement a vaccine mandate for the county’s 12,000 government employees, who range from library staff to police and solid waste workers.

While the county has reported relatively high vaccination rates, with almost 80% of adults having gotten at least one dose, some people who are eligible for the vaccine are choosing not to get it because of “false information,” according to McKay.

“Getting vaccinated is an act of public charity,” McKay said. “It’s not just about protecting you, but protecting everyone that you work with, every county resident that seeks our services, and everyone that works in our community.”

McKay confirmed that Hill is currently developing a plan for county government employees to return to offices in September.

The board directed Hill to consider providing some exemptions from the vaccine mandate for “religious and medical purposes” as well as requiring face masks and weekly COVID-19 testing for employees who do not qualify for an exemption and continue to refuse to get vaccinated.

In introducing the motion, McKay cited the growing prevalence of the delta variant, which now makes up more than 80% of all new cases in the U.S. and an estimated 69.4% of cases in the mid-Atlantic region, including Virginia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Like elsewhere in the country, Fairfax County has seen a rise in cases throughout July.

McKay noted that the need to bring COVID-19 case levels back down is especially urgent as Fairfax County Public Schools hopes to reintroduce five days of in-person learning when the new school year starts in August.

“What is happening right now with the delta variant in our community is scary for so many people, and I know it’s scary for our public school system,” McKay said. “Keep in mind that there are thousands of kids in elementary school that don’t have the luxury of getting vaccinated, and we need to do it for them. We need to make sure that our schools can reopen fully and safely, and we all need to get vaccinated to ensure that that happens.”

The board’s move comes as the CDC is expected to announce this afternoon a reversal of its policy allowing unvaccinated people to go maskless indoors, as reported by The Washington Post and other national outlets.

David Taube contributed to this report.

People using 911 in Fairfax County can now provide medical details and other information to help first responders know more about a situation before they arrive.

The county rolled out the change on July 1, allowing people to sign up ahead of time with information about a resident who has a special need or needs ranging from anything from Alzheimer’s to autism.

“It could make the difference between someone being saved and not saved,” 911 systems administrator Steve McMurrer said.

A person with an iPhone or Android phone can sign up for the free service by clicking on the Emergency Health Profile section on the county’s Department of Public Safety Communications web page. It will direct them to emergencyprofile.org, and that information is also shared with other 911 centers, McMurrer said.

In a person’s emergency profile under a section for additional medical notes or relevant information, people can list if they’re wheelchair-bound, blind, or have any other condition that first responders might need to be aware of.

A person’s emergency contact information, allergies, address, and other details can also be listed for a caller.

“Any first responder prefers to have more information,” McMurrer said.

The county’s new system relies on RapidSOS, which has been servicing the county with improved location for mobile 911 calls. It doesn’t charge emergency providers but instead device and app makers, according to a TechCrunch article.

Tony Bash, who represents Springfield District on the Fairfax Area Commission on Aging, noted it could help a person who is having a heart attack or is deaf, blind, or in a wheelchair. He also said a child with a disability might confront a police officer when they hear a siren, so the information can be vital to help first responders understand and address a situation.

Without the additional information, emergency responses can lead to injuries and deaths of people in need of help.

State officials noted that a lack of training and awareness can escalate situations for people with disabilities. State agencies for criminal justice, disabilities, and behavioral health partnered with Niagara University in 2017 to introduce additional law enforcement training.

“This is quite possibly the biggest revolutionary change in technology that we’ve witnessed in 50 years,” Eddie Reyes, director at the Prince William County Department of Public Safety Communications, said in a promotional video for RapidSOS.

Fairfax County officials have introduced elements of the service previously, but they were scattered across a variety of places:

• The Yellow Dot Program involves putting information on a card that people can take with them in their vehicles to show special medical needs.
• The File of Life, which can be placed on refrigerators, shares similar information.
• A functional needs registry with the Office of Emergency Management’s Fairfax Alerts has a database with information like if a person needs oxygen or an elevator, but the information can be outdated and was unavailable to the 911 center.

“It’s much, much better than what we have now,” Bash said of the new 911 capabilities. He described previous information on file for emergency responders as 20th-century solutions.

The county had previously looked at using Smart911, but its estimated cost in 2015 was $125,000 per year and $300,000 annually in 2019.

Herndon Fire Causes $6K in Damages — Fairfax County Fire and Rescue units responded to a passerby’s report of a building fire in the 2400 block of Centreville Road around 7:22 a.m. yesterday (Monday). Investigators determined that the fire, which was seen on a countertop, was caused by an electrical event involving a power strip. There were no reported injuries, but the damage was estimated to be $6,000. [Patch]

Police Seek Assistance in Finding Great Falls Burglary Suspects — The Fairfax County Police Department’s Reston Station is seeking to identify two men who reportedly caused more than $20,000 in damage to a house in the 800 block of Hortense Place in Great Falls on June 12. Detectives have not yet determined if the incident is related to incidents involving damage to two homes in the same block on July 12. [Patch]

Virginia to Use COVID-19 Relief Funds for School Ventilation — “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam wants to allocate $250 million of the state’s federal coronavirus relief money to projects that will improve air quality in public schools. In a statement Monday, the Democratic governor said the state funding would be matched with another $250 million in local funds for an investment that would allow for the completion of nearly all Virginia school divisions’ currently planned projects.” [Associated Press/WTOP]

Reston Hospital Completes First Spinal Implant Using AI and Augmented Reality — “Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR), top surgeons at Virginia Spine Institute deliver personalized spinal implants to a 17 year old patient. Spine Surgeons Dr. Ehsan Jazini and Dr. Christopher Good performed the procedure at Reston Hospital on Monday, July 26, 2021.” [Virginia Spine Institute]

Reminder: Weigh In On Future of Reston Parking — “Help us determine the future of parking in Tysons and Reston. We want to hear from residents, commuters, employees and patrons about how you use parking in these areas. Take our managed parking survey, open now through July 31.” [Fairfax County Government/Twitter]

A new exhibit at Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art in Reston is set to highlight how great art can still be created even in the midst of intense political and social upheaval.

The Reston Town Center-based local arts organization, which re-branded earlier this year from Greater Reston Arts Center, is debuting “3AM: Time Sensitive” next month, a collection of performance-based works from a Myanmar artist collective.

“There’s a lot that we can learn about how people express themselves, how people create art, and how people organize in their communities in the face of volatile political times,” says show curator Adriel Luis. “Often times what can be missed is how much we can learn about…these issues happening in the United States when we actually look at things from a global lens.”

The exhibit will feature three video-based works showing lived-in experiences of the artists, particularly the impact of globalization, political turmoil, and the complexities of queer life in Myanmar.

This is the first time that work of the three artists that make up 3AM — Ma Ei, Ko Latt, and Yadanar — is being shown in the United States. The exhibit at Tephra will run through early January 2022.

One piece, says Luis, features still images of the artists holding objects that are commonplace in Myanmar, some traditional and some clearly imported from the west.

“There are places in this world that are actively going through civil war, but yet art persists and people continue to express themselves,” Luis says.

The exhibit is in-person only at the moment, but the display will also be shown out the windows of Tephra’s gallery at 12001 Market Street for those who are not comfortable coming inside.

Despite a pandemic, Tephra has had several notable exhibits and displayed works over the last few months including Quantum Shift, which is still on display until August 7, as well a monolith sculpture that was erected in D.C. back in May.

Luis says he and Tephra as a whole made it a priority to work with international artists not only to grow as an institution, but also to provide a look into what’s going on in other parts of the world.

Luis, who is also a curator at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, says his career has been about bringing artists from across the world to local galleries and communities.

“The hope is to demonstrate how showing an international artist can actually resonate deeply within a local community, as opposed to sticking out like a sore thumb,” he says.

He believes Reston’s size will give community members a closer connection to the message that these artists are trying to make.

“There’s a lot of reasons why somewhere like Reston is so much more similar to the environment that these artists are used to than a bigger city like D.C.,” he says.

Under normal circumstances, the artists would be here to introduce and answer any questions about their work, but between the COVID-19 pandemic and upheaval in the wake of a military coup in Myanmar, that isn’t possible for 3AM. Luis and Tephra are still trying to figure out a way to have the artists be available for a conversation about their works.

Either way, the message that Luis hopes audiences take away from this, no matter the circumstances, is one that is universal.

“The message is ‘what does it mean to be true to ourselves?’,” Luis asks. “We’ll definitely see how it lands once it’s shown, but that’s the hope.”

Courtesy Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art

Fairfax County’s COVID-19 case levels remain well below the worst days of the pandemic, but their rapid rise over the past month is enough to set off alarm bells, threatening to bring a summer heralded as a return to normalcy to a more sobering end.

The Fairfax Health District, which encompasses the county and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, has added 457 new cases since this time last week, including 64 cases just today (Monday) and 84 cases on Friday (July 23) — the biggest single-day influx since 127 cases were reported on May 7. The district has now reported a total of 79,024 cases.

10 more people in the Fairfax Health District were hospitalized by the novel coronavirus over the past week, and one person died, bringing the respective totals up to 4,171 hospitalizations and 1,152 deaths.

According to the Virginia Department of Health, Fairfax County’s current seven-day average of 65.3 new cases is the highest it has been since May 9, when it was 67.7 cases. In comparison, the weekly average was hovering around zero as recently as June 20.

In addition, the district’s testing positivity rate has jumped from 0.8% on July 3 to 2.4% as of July 22.

The increased transmission of COVID-19 over the past month has been attributed to the growing presence of the delta variant — the most contagious version of the virus yet.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 83.2% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. now stem from the delta variant. While the Fairfax Health District has officially recorded just 20 delta cases, the CDC predicts that variant has made up an increasing share of cases in the mid-Atlantic region, from 45.3% during the two weeks ending on July 3 to 69.4% by July 17.

With more cases occurring overall, Virginia has seen more breakthrough infections over the past couple of weeks. On July 9, when VDH started reporting this data, 0.004% of fully vaccinated people had contracted COVID-19 in 2021. As of July 23, when the dashboard was last updated, there have 1,377 breakthrough cases in the state — 0.032% of fully vaccinated individuals.

However, unvaccinated individuals still make up 99.54% of COVID-19 cases and nearly all hospitalizations and deaths. 7,757 unvaccinated people have been hospitalized this year, compared to 114 people who were fully vaccinated, and 3,846 of the 3,884 people who have died were not fully vaccinated.

While some parts of the country have reinstated mask mandates in response to rising cases, Virginia has kept its focus on getting people vaccinated even as demand has slowed. The Commonwealth let its public health order requiring masks in schools expire yesterday (Sunday), instead leaving mask rules up to local school districts.

The Fairfax Health District has adminstered 1.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, delivering at least one shot to 752,842 residents, including 75.8% of people 18 and older. 63.6% of the district’s population has gotten at least one dose, outpacing Virginia as a whole, which has given at least one dose to just under 60% of the population.

683,428 Fairfax Health District residents are now fully vaccinated, which amounts to 69.2% of adults and 57.7% of the total population, according to the Fairfax County Health Department’s dashboard.

Interestingly, young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 are lagging behind in vaccinations. 67.3% of them have received at least one dose, whereas every other age group, including 12 to 17-year-olds, has a vaccination rate of at least 70%.

Photo via CDC on Unsplash