Fairfax County, Virginia, is now reporting substantial transmission of the coronavirus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines substantial transmission as having at least 50 total new cases per 100,000 persons in the past seven days.
Fairfax County, Virginia’s largest county in terms of population, is at 56 cases per 100,000 as of Thursday.
The CDC’s four levels of community transmission range from low to high. Substantial is the second-highest tier; 100 cases or more per 100,000 people would be considered “high.”
The cities of Manassas, Manassas Park and Falls Church are the only jurisdictions in Northern Virginia that are not seeing substantial community transmissions.
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Cases have been rising throughout the region since mid-July — a surge largely attributed to the more infectious delta variant and lagging vaccination rates in some communities.
The CDC recommends that in areas of substantial transmission, people wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
D.C. is seeing substantial transmission of the virus and has reimplemented its indoor mask mandate.
Health leaders in Alexandria and the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William recommend indoor mask-wearing regardless of vaccination status.
Maryland’s most populous county — Montgomery County — on Thursday voted to reinstate an indoor mask mandate. The county has a weekly average of just under 58 cases per 100,000.
And Prince George’s County on Thursday announced that masks would be required inside all county government buildings — following that up hours later by mandating masks indoors in all public venues in the county, irrespective of whether they’re vaccinated.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Thursday each mandated vaccines, or regular testing, for many or all state workers in their respective states.
