COVID-19 case rates in Fairfax County have leveled off over the past week after appearing to trend downward since mid-January, when a record 1,485 cases were reported in a single day.

As of today, the county’s seven-day average is at 312.4 cases and has been hovering between 290 and 337 cases since Feb. 4. While the anticipated post-winter holiday surge seems to have tapered off, case levels are still higher than the pandemic’s initial spring peak, when the highest recorded seven-day average was 303 cases on May 31.

With 194 new cases today, the Fairfax Health District has now reported 64,950 COVID-19 cases, 3,482 hospitalizations, and 849 deaths, according to data from the Fairfax County Health Department.

Today also marked the launch of Virginia’s new statewide COVID-19 vaccine registration system, though Fairfax County is not participating for the time being.

Based on a registration data dashboard that went live on Feb. 12, Fairfax County has made slow but discernible progress in its efforts to vaccinate older adults, some groups of essential workers, and other eligible populations.

The Fairfax County Health Department has whittled its waitlist of people who have registered but haven’t been given an appointment yet down to 105,268 people, as of 10 a.m. The list had around 180,000 registrants as recently as last Thursday (Feb. 11). In total, 229,185 people have registered with the county to get the COVID-19 vaccine so far.

The health department is currently making appointments for more than 42,000 people who registered on Jan. 18, which saw particularly high demand since it was the day when the county expanded eligibility for the vaccine to people between the ages of 65 and 74 as well as people with high-risk medical conditions.

People who have registered for an appointment through the county health department can now see where they are in the queue with a registration status checker, though the rollout of that tool was not without its challenges.

Fairfax County has delivered 110,098 of the 114,923 vaccine doses that it has gotten from the Virginia Department of Health so far. About 68% of those doses were adminstered by the county health department, while the remaining 31% were distributed to other providers, like Inova.

According to the VDH, 48,404 people in Fairfax County have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and 163,200 total doses have been administered in the county. That number includes residents and staff at long-term care facilities that have been getting the vaccine through the federal government rather than the local health department.

The Virginia Department of Health launched a new, statewide registration system for the COVID-19 vaccine today, but Fairfax County won’t be taking part.

The county is encouraging residents to continue using its own registration system. Local health districts have been directed to close their existing registration forms so that data can be cleaned up, consolidated, and transferred to the new system.

The FCHD says it will not participate in the statewide system at this time and will instead continue to manage vaccine appointments for everyone in the Fairfax Health District, which includes Fairfax County, the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, and the towns of Vienna, Herndon, and Clifton.

“For those already on the waitlist, do not register again on the new statewide system,” the county health department said.

Fairfax County’s vaccine call center at 703-324-7404 will also continue to be operational, even with the state launching a new call center.

Fairfax County decided to stick with its own registration system because officials believed it would be less confusing for residents, and because the county has “invested a lot of resources” into the system, Fairfax County Health Department spokesperson Tina Dale said.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay also noted that the county invested resources and time into working out the kinks of its current system.

“At this point, I am glad we can maintain our system that residents are familiar with to cut down on confusion. We will continue to have conversations with the state about registration as the vaccine process rolls out,” he said.

The news comes as Fairfax County’s promised dashboard with COVID-19 vaccine and registration data goes live.

So far, the county is currently making appointments for people registered on Jan. 18. Residents can verify if they are registered to receive the first dose of the vaccine online.

Roughly 228,145 people have registered for the vaccine in the Fairfax Health District and 106,371 people remain on the waiting list as of data released Sunday night.

The health department cautions that it may take several weeks to schedule appointments for registered residents due to limited vaccine supply. The county has received 114,923 doses from VDH.

The number of daily reported COVID-19 cases continue to drop and return to similar case loads recorded in June.

The rolling weekly average of cases for this past week stood at 289 cases, down from a reported high of nearly 697 cases on Jan. 17. The number of daily cases has continued on a steep decline.

The peak of average weekly cases in June stood at 303 cases.

Still, the number of daily reported cases is still comparatively high. As of today, there were 289 daily new case reported, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

The drop in the cases is also reflected in statewide statistics. As of Feb. 7, the rolling weekly average of cases was 3,478. Although this is still higher than any weekly average before December, the overall number of cases are declining steeply.

So far, the pandemic has claimed the lives of 807 people in Fairfax County.

The drop comes as Gov. Ralph Northam directs all school divisions to explore options for in-person learning by March 15 and look into plans for extending school into the summer.

In Fairfax County, more than 120,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered and 26,175 people are fully vaccinated.

Photo via Virginia Department of Health

Fairfax County’s online registration form for COVID-19 vaccine appointments will be offline for 12 hours starting at 7 p.m. today (Wednesday).

The form will be inaccessible until 7 a.m. tomorrow so that the county can conduct scheduled, routine technical maintenance and updates, according to the Fairfax County Health Department.

“We apologize for any inconvenience,” the FCHD says in an alert on the registration page. “This will not affect anyone who already has a scheduled appointment or anyone who is currently on the waitlist to get an appointment.”

Fairfax County staff told the Board of Supervisors yesterday that they are continuing to work on issues with the county’s online vaccine registration system, which has been plagued by technical issues and overwhelming demand.

“We’re actually engaged with the health department looking at making improvements to the overall scheduling and registration system,” Fairfax County Information Technology Director Greg Scott said during the board’s health and human services committee meeting. “We’re working on that right now.”

The county is also working to improve its approach to communications and ensuring that vaccine doses are distributed equitably.

Photo via Fairfax County Health Department

The novel coronavirus has now killed 802 people in the Fairfax Health District, which includes Fairfax County and the Cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.

While the number of new cases and hospitalizations appear to be trending downward, Fairfax County has still been averaging 365 COVID-19 cases, eight hospitalizations, and 4.5 deaths per day over the past seven days, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s data.

With 237 new cases today (Monday), the Fairfax Health District has recorded a total of 60,436 COVID-19 cases, and 3,317 people have been hospitalized due to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

After a hectic week of mass appointment cancellations and revamped protocols, state and local officials in Virginia hope that an anticipated increase in vaccine supplies, clearer guidance to health providers, and the pending launch of a centralized registration system will result in a more efficient and less confusing COVID-19 vaccination program.

According to a presentation that Fairfax County Health Director Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu is scheduled to deliver to county supervisors tomorrow (Tuesday), Virginia is currently receiving about 105,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines per week. The Fairfax Health District has a weekly allocation of 13,600 doses.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week that the federal government is expected to increase its allocation of vaccine to the Commonwealth by 16%. He also told local health districts to split their supplies evenly between older adults and the other eligible populations, including essential workers and people with high-risk medical conditions.

Fairfax County continues to lead Virginia’s vaccination efforts, administering 95,935 total doses and fully vaccinating 15,864 people as of today. However, that is only a fraction of the 223,625 doses that the Fairfax Health District has received, according to a new VDH dashboard.

As of Jan. 28, the county had a waitlist of 168,422 people who have pre-registered for an appointment through the Fairfax County Health Department, which has been administering the vaccine to older adults, healthcare workers, long-term care facility employees, and people with underlying medical conditions.

Essential workers, including teachers and first responders, have been getting vaccinated through special clinics from Inova Health Systems, which has reported administering about 75,000 doses. Last week, the nonprofit ceased giving new appointments for people looking to receive their first dose, though Fairfax County Public Schools was able to reschedule appointments for its staff that had been canceled.

Overall, Virginia has received 1.3 million vaccine doses, administered 843,230 doses, and fully vaccinated 124,407 people. The pace of vaccinations has been picking up, with the Commonwealth now averaging 33,675 doses a day, but remains short of Northam’s goal of 50,000 per day.

Images via CDC on Unsplash, VDH, Fairfax County Health Department

The seven-day average of COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County continues a steep decline this week, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health.

Today’s average was 366 cases compared to roughly 681 cases during the prior week of Jan. 18 and 535 cases on Jan. 11. But it is important to note that the number of new cases per day continues to be higher than the first peak of the outbreak over the summer.

For example, VDH reported 689 cases today, well about the peak of 434 over the summer on May 28. The highest number of new cases per day — 1,485 — was reported on Jan. 17.

Similarly, hospitalizations in the county are also on the decline after peaking in early May. The weekly average of hospitalizations has hovered at numbers less than 20 for the last few months, according to VDH data. Today, VDH reported seven hospitalizations and a rolling average of eight.

Statewide, the daily case average took a downturn as well after three days of record-high cases.

Roughly 40 percent of the county’s total population about the age of 16 is eligible to receive the vaccine. So far, 57,702 people have received the first dose of the vaccine and 6,141 people have been fully vaccinated. Statewide, 416,200 people have received the first dose and 58,779 are fully vaccinated.

County officials have noted that while many people are eligible for the vaccine, a limited dose of vaccines is currently available.

In a Jan. 21 letter to Gov. Ralph Northam, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay urged the state to increase the county’s vaccine supply.

The county has more than 100,000 residents registered through the health department’s vaccinations system.

“We average about 10,000 doses a week, which does not meet the demand nor the expectation of the 100,000 people we now have in the queue,” McKay wrote.

People can register online or by calling the county’s vaccine hotline at 703-324-7404.

I wrote to @GovernorVA about our need for more vaccine in FX. We have put every local resource into vaccinating as many ppl as possible. We lead VA in vaccinating, but demand outpaces vaccine available from the state. Ppl are anxious, however know vaccinations are our priority. pic.twitter.com/CXfBufuyzj

— Jeff McKay (@JeffreyCMcKay) January 21, 2021

Case Average Takes Downturn — “On Sunday, Virginia recorded 3,792 new coronavirus cases while the seven-day average continues to decline from last week, according to Virginia Department of Health data.” [Reston Patch]

Reston Group Opposes zMOD — The Reston Citizens Association has issued a lengthy statement opposing certain elements of the county’s zoning modernization project. [Reston 2020]

Snow Possible Tonight — “Precipitation breaks out sometime after 3 p.m., probably starting as light rain before changing to a sleet/snow mix. Mixed precipitation will continue to fall lightly through midnight, probably changing back to light rain overnight. High temperatures in the mid- to upper 30s. Accumulations in the D.C. metro area will be mostly confined to grassy surfaces.” [Capital Weather Gang]

Photo by Marjorie Copson

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb in Fairfax County as the statewide rollout of vaccines continues.

So far, 4,181 people have been vaccinated in Fairfax County, with a total of 41,709 vaccines administered nationwide. The Virginia Department of Health began releasing vaccine data on Dec. 23. No second doses in the two-round vaccine have been administered yet.

The record highest count of new daily cases. — 897 — was reported on Dec. 21. Following that peak, the moving weekly average of cases has hovered in the 460s. The third highest peak was reported on Dec. 27 when cases stood at 690. Today, the county reported 330 cases.

The number of hospitalizations in the county has increased steadily over the last few weeks, with a moving seven-day average of 16 hospitalizations. In June, hospitalizations peaked when that average stood in the low 30s. Since the pandemic began, 687 residents in the county have died to the pandemic and nearly 3,000 have been hospitalized.

The current positivity test rate for the state is 12.3 percent, roughly two percentage points below the countywide average.

Last week, the Fairfax County Health Department received 5,000 of the Moderna vaccine, which will be administered to healthcare workers who are not affiliated with hospitals.

Earlier this month, staff in the Inova Health System and Reston Hospital Center received vaccine shipments and began vaccinating staff and affiliated providers. Nursing home residents and staff are also covered in the first phase of the vaccination program.

Photo via Unsplash

The Fairfax Health District reported 914 new COVID-19 cases today (Monday), a new single-day record for the district, which encompasses the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church as well as Fairfax County.

According to the Virginia Department of Health, Fairfax County reported 897 cases within the past 24 hours, while Fairfax City added 11 cases, and Falls Church added six.

With that flood of new cases, which Fairfax County attributes partly to a data reporting backlog, the Fairfax Health District has now recorded 40,551 cases since the pandemic first arrived in the area in March. 670 people in the district have died from the disease transmitted by the novel coronavirus, and 2,820 people have been hospitalized.

Today’s caseload easily surpasses the previous single-day record of 725 daily cases from Dec. 8, though the weekly average of 437.7 cases remains lower than Dec. 12, when the district averaged 505.1 cases over seven days.

The Fairfax Health District’s COVID-19 testing positivity rate is slightly up from last week, with a seven-day moving average of 11% as of Dec. 17. The 548,789 total testing encounters recorded in Fairfax is by far the most seen in any of Virginia’s health districts.

Fairfax County’s new COVID-19 daily case record comes on the same day that shipments of a vaccine from Moderna are expected to arrive in Virginia. The state had ordered 146,400 doses of the vaccine even before it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 18.

Pfizer has dispersed a total of 72,125 doses of its own vaccine to frontline healthcare workers in Virginia since it started distributing to hospitals in the state last week. A nurse at Inova became the first person in Fairfax County to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus on Dec. 15.

The VDH reported on Dec. 18 that the state will receive an estimated 370,650 vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna this month, a smaller allocation than the 480,000 doses that Virginia previously expected to get.

Even with the distribution of vaccines bringing hope of an end to the pandemic in the foreseeable future, local elected officials and health experts have emphasized the need to continue adhering to guidelines for limiting COVID-19’s spread, including wearing face coverings, avoiding travel, and following social distancing protocols.

“I understand everyone would like to see family and friends for Christmas,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisor Jeff McKay said. “Our COVID-19 cases are rising quickly, however, and we need residents to avoid gatherings with those outside of your household and travel.”

For lower-risk alternatives to typical holiday celebrations, the Fairfax County Health Department has recommendedgathering with family virtually, shopping online, and watching concerts or other festivities on TV.

Image via CDC on Unsplash, Virginia Department of Health

With the emergency approval of a COVID-19 vaccine expected before the end of the year, county officials are one step closer to getting ready for mass vaccination planning.

At a meeting on Tuesday (Dec. 1), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to accept a $500,000 state grant for the county’s mass vaccination program. Funds will be available through the state’s $22 million Coronavirus Relief Fund, which will be used to create a statewide program to distribute the vaccine, once it is available.

Two companies — Pfizer and Moderna — are awaiting emergency authorizations of their vaccines in the United States.  The U.S. Food and Drug and Administration expected to authorize the approvals in mid-December.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunization practices voted earlier this week to make the first priority group health care workers and long-term care residents.

The county’s program also allocates roughly $14 million to help local health districts like the Fairfax Health District prepare for mass vaccination efforts. The grant must be used for facility rental costs, hiring for temporary positions, travel costs, printing, signage, and other expenses related to operating vaccination clinics.

Fairfax County Executive Brian Hill said his health department is actively working on a vaccination plan for the county “as we speak.” He noted that the county’s plan will depend heavily on the state’s strategy and other conditions, including who will receive the vaccine first.

“Once we know the particulars, we will have a plan in place per the Virginia Department of Health guidelines,” Hill said.

A county-based mass vaccination workgroup has been meeting since mid-June to discuss vaccination plans.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn urged the county to provide information on how the plan would be administered. He added that lines for the H1N1 vaccine program rivaled the lines the county recently saw for early voting.

“I just want to make sure we see what the plan is particularly as it relates to logistics,” he said.

Funds from the state grant must be spent by the end of the month, after which point unspent dollars will revert back to the state. However, county staff noted that the federal government could extend the date for the overall program. Acceptance of the grant requires no local match.

State officials are also considering other funding sources to support next year’s vaccination program. The Virginia Department of Health estimates that the program will cost $120 million.

Virginia is expected to get a little over 70,000 doses in the first shipment from Pfizer.

“When our turn comes, my family and I will have no hesitancy about getting vaccinated and I strongly encourage every Virginian to get the vaccine. That is our only path to getting back to that near normal,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a press briefing yesterday (Wednesday).

Image via Unsplash

COVID-19 is now more widespread in Fairfax County than it was when the pandemic’s first wave hit in the spring.

Reporting 262 new cases just today (Monday), the Fairfax Health District has recorded a total of 31,388 COVID-19 cases since the novel coronavirus first arrived in March. 2,561 people have been hospitalized, and 638 people have died from the disease.

Fairfax County officially surpassed the spring peak on Nov. 24 when it reported 308.3 cases on average over the previous seven days. The highest seven-day average recorded in the spring was 303 cases on May 31.

The weekly average caseload then hit an all-time high of 352.3 cases on Sunday (Nov. 29) before dipping down to a seven-day average of 324.9 cases today, according to Virginia Department of Health data.

Fairfax County also recorded its highest single-day case count of the pandemic this past weekend when it saw 496 new cases on Nov. 28. The previous record was 493 cases on May 25.

However, Fairfax County’s hospitalization and death rates remain well below where they were in the spring.

Currently, Fairfax County is averaging 7.86 hospitalizations over the past seven days, compared to the peak of 35.57 hospitalizations over seven days recorded on May 4. The county is seeing a seven-day average of 1.29 deaths right now, but the seven-day average was 14 deaths on May 4 after there was a single-day record of 31 deaths on May 3.

The surge in COVID-19 cases that Fairfax County is witnessing right now falls in line with the overall trend for Northern Virginia as a region, which recorded its highest seven-day moving average of 815.7 cases on Nov. 29.

By comparison, the pandemic’s spring surge peaked at a seven-day regional moving average of 685.3 cases on May 31.

The continued upward trajectory of COVID-19’s spread in Fairfax County comes after health officials warned that the traveling, intimate family gatherings, and in-person holiday shopping typically associated with Thanksgiving weekend could exacerbate the pandemic.

Given the lag time between when someone is exposed to the coronavirus and when a new case is actually reported, Fairfax County’s current COVID-19 data suggests the worst may still be on the horizon.

Images via CDC on Unsplash; graphs via Virginia Department of Health, Fairfax County Health Department 

As Thanksgiving approaches, Fairfax County reported the highest weekly average of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began earlier this year. The news comes as the county and state record peaks in the number of new cases reported and appear to confirm fears of a second wave of cases.

Even as the possibility of a vaccine becomes reality, health officials are urging residents to avoid celebrating the holiday with members outside ones’ household, if possible.

As of today (Monday), the state’s health department reported 453 new cases, second only to the highest number of new cases (493) per day that was reported on June 25. To date, the county has had 38,798 cases, 2,474 hospitalizations and 614 deaths.

Based on the current trajectory of cases, more evidence shows that cases have been growing at an exponential rate in the county over the last month.

The county’s test positivity rate is 8.3 percent, more than one percentage point higher than the statewide test positive rate, which is currently 7.2 percent. In the state, 3,242 new cases were reported today, according to state health data.

Similar surges have been detected regionally recently.

“The number of new COVID-19 cases in the Fairfax and Loudoun health districts is officially surging, according to new analysis from the University of Virginia, and the Northern Virginia region’s overall caseload is at its highest level since it peaked May 31,” InsideNova reported.

The Virginia Department of Health attributed some of today’s case counts to “a catch-up from the VDH data system being down for upgrades for a few hours this weekend.”

Hospitalizations, however, remain relatively low in the county. As of today, two new hospitalizations were reported and no new deaths were reported.

Photo 1 via Unsplash; photo 2 via Fairfax County Department of Health

The long awaited COVID-19 vaccine is reportedly on its way.

On Nov. 9, Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech unveiled their preliminary results on a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech followed up with an announcement on Nov. 18 that the vaccine is 95% effective with a consistent efficacy across age, race and ethnicity demographics during its ongoing trials.

On Friday, the pair formally requested an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow a faster rollout of a vaccine to the American public.

Shortly after Pfizer and BioNTech’s announcement of their preliminary results, another vaccine candidate co-developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) – which is part of the National Institutes of Health – was announced. Moderna and NIAID announced a vaccine efficacy of 94.5% on Nov. 17.

Well before these announcements, though, Fairfax County health officials were preparing for distribution and accessibility of a COVID-19 vaccine once one becomes available.

“We’re working on all of the logistics of getting the vaccine out,” said Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, Director of Epidemiology and Population Health for the Fairfax County Health Department.

“We’re working on communicating with our health care partners, health care providers, (and) health care organizations so that we can not only make sure we’re able to vaccinate them, but also if they want to deliver vaccine to their patients, that we can tell them how to do so.”

Schwartz advised that plans are still being made as the county and health department learn more about the two-dose vaccine and its availability in the coming weeks or months. Though some plans will need to be finalized, Schwartz shared that a portion of the county’s plans will be to focus initially on priority groups that are most at risk for severe illness. Those groups include health care workers as well as residents and staff of nursing homes.

The method for distribution in the county will also take a variety of approaches, according to Schwartz. He detailed that the vaccine will be distributed in some cases by facility, and by the local health department. He also said that some national chain pharmacies and private providers interested in vaccinating would be a part of the distribution plans.

Those plans are contingent on the availability of a vaccine. The FDA has scheduled a meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) for Dec. 10 to discuss the EUA request from Pfizer and BioNTech, according to a press release from the FDA. Though the VRBPAC may provide its advice to the FDA, the FDA will have the final decision on the pharmaceutical companies’ EUA request.

If the EUA request is approved, Pfizer has announced plans to distribute the vaccine as soon as possible in December.

“We will continue the work already underway to make sure we can begin shipping the vaccine immediately after authorization or approval,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a video released by the company on Nov. 20.

“Based on current projections, we expect to produce globally up to 50 million doses in 2020 – and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.”

Schwartz explained that once a vaccine is approved, its distribution would be a function of the federal government, and it will decide how to allocate the vaccine to the states. The state health department would then allocate the vaccine to the local health departments or jurisdictions.

“We’re still communicating and learning how that’s going to work,” Schwartz said.

“We are in constant communication with the Virginia Department of Health and still obviously getting more information about how that’s going to occur.”

As of Nov. 23, Fairfax County reported 29,089 cases of COVID-19, with 26,841 confirmed and 2,248 listed as probable. The county’s COVID-19 case data dashboard also shows that 2,505 people have been hospitalized and 629 have died from the novel coronavirus.

Schwartz said that when a vaccine becomes available, he is confident in the county’s ability to distribute it appropriately, based on the county’s experience handling the H1N1 vaccine and years of planning and calculations.

He also stated that at this point, the “most important message is to stay informed and stay tuned.” He said that the county couldn’t share specific information until the FDA authorizes a vaccine and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice for the CDC can make recommendations for distribution practices and what the priority groups are.

Following those authorizations and recommendations, Schwartz said the county’s health department will begin communicating how much vaccine it will have, what groups it will be able to vaccinate and how to get the vaccine. Now, though, Schwartz said that the county wants to begin communicating with people about a vaccine.

“We know that many people look at this vaccine with perhaps some concern because it’s a new vaccine and because it was developed very quickly, quicker than vaccines are usually developed,” Schwartz said.

“We know from surveys that have been done nationally that many people are uncertain or skeptical about the vaccine. So, one of the things we need to do now is to communicate with people and give them information so that when the time comes, they’ll be able to make an informed decision.”

Though news of a potential vaccine coming soon has been met with a wave of acclaim and relief, Schwartz advised tempering excitement, as the vaccine has not yet arrived and will still take time to distribute to everyone.

Schwartz also said that news of a vaccine should not be looked at as a way for people to “loosen up” on public health strategies and other measures that have been put in place to mitigate the virus’ effect.

“It’s important to remind people that even with a vaccine on the horizon, we still need to be rigorous in our prevention measures, the mask wearing, social distancing, staying home when you’re sick, washing your hands,” Schwartz said.

“And that even after people start getting vaccinated, there still will not be what we call ‘herd’ or ‘community immunity’ until a large percentage of our population has gotten a vaccine. Even after a vaccine is given to some people, all of those other measures remain critically important.”

Photo via Unsplash