Dear West Springfield Neighbor / Friend,
Understand that more who own homes on Rolling Road are receiving the certified letter announcing the start of the property acquisition phase of the RR widening project. Good luck!
COVID-19 Update – Apparently, we’re now we are in Phase III moving toward whatever “normal” is or had been. The guidelines can be found in English here and in Spanish here. Key changes:
- Non-essential businesses, restaurants, and beverage services may fully reopen.
- Entertainment venues may open at 50% capacity.
- All open facilities must continue to maintain physical distancing practices and enhanced cleaning and disinfection practices.
- Gatherings of up to 250 people will be allowed.
- Teleworking is still strongly encouraged.
- Face masks are still required.
Latest from Fairfax County concerning the virus can be found here. You may recall the requirements for moving into PH III; an update is on those decision points is below:
- Percentage of positives tests over 14 days. At least seven weeks of a downward trend has been observed.
- Hospitalizations over 14 days. Since peaking at 53 reported hospitalizations on May 3, a general downward trend has been observed.
- Increased testing. The total number of PCR tests done in Fairfax County is reported on the VDH website as 76,425. The tests per week during the past four weeks has ranged between about 8,000 and 10,000 tests.
- Increased contact tracing capacity. Although the infrastructure is not in place yet, 76 people have been hired and are in varying stages of the training process. This will continue to grow in the weeks ahead.
- Enough hospital beds and intensive care capacity. Overall available hospital beds were at 25%; no change since the June 9 report. While a recent decrease in available adult critical care beds to approximately 25% has been observed (as of June 24), this remains above the low of 15% that occurred on May 17.
- Increasing and sustainable supply of PPE. PPE for hospitals appears to continue to be adequate.
4th of July Flag Pride – I and hopefully we very much appreciate Tim & Yee Peng Royster (Smyth Street) for their plan to put flags at each of our homes. Also thanks to those who volunteered to place the flags and then pick them up on Monday, 6 July. Perfect timing to remind ourselves of our good fortune to live in the United States of America. I, and many of you have lived and worked in other countries and can attest that none is better than the USA. I hope you can celebrate our Independence Day carefully and stay healthy.
Live Oak Restaurant – Jeremy Barber’s Live Oak Restaurant, 1603 Commonwealth Avenue, Alexandria 22301 is reopened for takeout Wednesday - Sunday. Visit their website at https://www.liveoakdelray.com/ to order online or by phone at 571/312-0402. You’ll be in for a real treat!
Free – Andrew Bilski (SVD) has two (2) almost full 5 gallon containers of gasoline. Containers and the contents are included and free. Fuel may be too old for use, but contact Andrew at 301/502-4220.
Home Improvements – some of us have had work done on our homes without first obtaining a permit for such work. That’s your business, but my son was set to buy a rather expensive home in Colorado until the home inspection showed that a lot of the work on that home was done without a permit and a final inspection and possibly not up to local building codes. That’s a show stopper for the sale of the home. Enough said; right?
Stay safe and stay healthy!
John Cooley, CAWSV