Shelter In Place Blog: COVID-19 Update: How you can help

To the Fairfax County Community,

Every day, my office receives a significant amount of emails regarding COVID-19, many of them asking how they can help others in this time of need. There weren't a lot of state and County changes today, so I thought it was worth highlighting the number of ways you can donate and volunteer.

See below for the full March 25 edition. For more County updates and resources click here. If you have a friend who would like to sign up for this newsletter, they can do so here.

How to Help

There are a number of ways to donate and volunteer, both at home and in-person.
Contribute:
The Foundation for FCPS is supporting their food distribution efforts and technology needs for students.
FCPS has a list of community groups here.
The Fairfax County Animal Shelter is accepting donations via Amazon and the Friends of Fairfax County Animal Shelter.
Inova is looking for contributions to their Emergency Preparedness Fund and are in need of blood donations.
The Community Foundation has created a fund that will go to a variety of nonprofits in this region helping our community.
The Washington Nationals have even started the NATS4GOOD Community Response Fund.
Volunteer:
The Medical Reserve Corps serves as the official volunteer organization of the Fairfax County Health District. Sign up here.
The Fairfax County Neighbor-to-Neighbor program helps organize volunteer opportunities. Find out how your neighborhood community, HOA, or civic association can get involved:
Email: N2N@fairfaxcounty.gov
Call: 703-246-8962, TTY 711
Volunteer Fairfax and Health and Human Services both maintain searches with organizations that need volunteers and donations.

Inova

As of this morning, Inova Urgent Care (UCC) locations at Dulles South, North Arlington, and Tysons are staffing Respiratory Illness Clinics to evaluate all patients with respiratory illness symptoms.
The three clinics are also collecting samples for COVID-19 testing via physician ordered vehicle-side appointments.
Before visiting any Inova Respiratory Illness Clinic, take the following steps:
Contact your regular physician for evaluation. For assistance with recommendations, to arrange for a physician appointment, or if you do not have a primary care physician, call 1-855-IMG-DOCS.
Your regular physician can evaluate your symptoms to determine if testing is needed based on COVID-19 testing criteria and provide a testing order, or refer you to the Inova Respiratory Illness Clinic for evaluation.
Upon arrival at the Inova Respiratory Illness Clinic, a clinician will greet the patient at their vehicle to collect samples for a physician-ordered test, or escort the patient into the respiratory clinic for evaluation.
For patients who undergo COVID-19 testing, a UCC nurse will contact those whose results are negative. For patients with positive results, a UCC nurse will coordinate with the patient's regular physician for notification and further instructions. Patients who are tested can expect results in roughly 4-7 days.
Read more on Inova's response to COVID-19 here.

Fairfax County Courts

All divisions of the Fairfax City and Fairfax County General District Courts - including the Towns of Vienna and Herndon - will not be holding regular court hearings through April 17. Some dockets will still be heard. More information about rescheduling can be found here.
The Fairfax County Circuit Court remains open and operating on a limited docket.
The Supreme Court of Virginia has declared a judicial emergency. All non-essential court proceedings are suspended through April 6.

Fairfax County Government

Starting Friday, March 27, at 5 pm, Fairfax County will close all government buildings and facilities to the public, until further notice.
The County government remains open for business online, via phone, and by mail.
A full list of services that can be done online and by phone is here.

Fairfax County Parks

All Fairfax County Park Authority parks and amenities will be closed to the public until further notice, per Governor Northam's closure of recreational facilities.
Park Authority closures include: parking lots, athletic fields, sport courts, restrooms, nature centers, visitor centers, golf courses, historic sites, picnic areas, playgrounds, amusements, boat launches, skate parks, off-leash dog areas, outdoor fitness equipment, and any areas for open recreation.
Trails will remain open.
Although not under Fairfax control it is worth noting that NOVA Park trails like the W&OD Trail are open, with park offices closed.
Virginia State Parks are also open for day use.

Public Works PSA

With the increased use of sanitizing wipes due to coronavirus, Fairfax County wants to remind you that you cannot flush wipes down the drain.
Even those that say "flushable" may block your wastewater pipe.
Learn more.
Fairfax County Public Works and FCPS created a journal to encourage kids to discover their backyards and neighborhoods while social distancing. Print a copy here.

Tax Extensions

Be sure to share this important information!
The Board extended deadlines for:
The filing deadline for Personal Property Taxes for both individuals and businesses was extended to June 1.
The deadline to pay the first half of Real Estate taxes was extended to August 28.

Transportation

Metro has significantly reduced its service.
Metro has closed a total of 19 stations until further notice beginning on Thursday, March 26 due to low ridership and to conserve critical cleaning supplies.
The most up-to-date service information is here.
WMATA asks that customers do not use Metro unless absolutely necessary.
Fairfax Connector
Services have not changed at this time, however due to decreased ridership, services will be reduced in the next week.
Customers are now required to enter and exit the bus using the rear doors. This does not apply to customers in need of the wheelchair ramp.
Fare collection will be temporarily suspended.
Dulles and Reagan National Airports activity levels have decreased, but are still operational.

Health

Common health questions:

Not every case of coronavirus has symptoms, but those that do may appear 2-14 days after exposure:
Cough
Fever
Shortness of breath
The CDC recommends that only people who have symptoms of COVID-19 wear face masks.
Continue to follow the health guidelines:
Wash your hands
Cough and sneeze into your sleeve
Don't touch your face
Social distance
What it means to social distance, self isolate, and quarantine.

Resources:

Fairfax County Health Department
To view the number of cases in Fairfax County this page is updated at noon daily.
Visit the County site on COVID-19, Health Department Website, and see their FAQs.
Sign up for text message alerts: text FFXCOVID to 888777
Call the Health Department from 9:30 am - 9 pm weekdays and 9:30 am - 5 pm on weekends: 703-267-3511
Email: ffxcovid@fairfaxcounty.gov. This account will be staffed Monday through Friday, 8 am - 8 pm.
Inova has a helpful FAQ.