Health Department announces four new coronavirus cases, including a teacher
The Fairfax County Health Department is reported four additional presumptive positive cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) today.
That brings the total number of positive cases to 10 in Fairfax County and 41 in Virginia.
The coronavirus cases in Fairfax County include three individuals from the same household who were close contacts to a presumptive positive case that was announced on March 12. One of them is a teacher at Lynbrook Elementary School on Backlick Road in Springfield.
The three individuals came to the Health Department’s attention as part of a contact investigation. Specimens were collected on them on March 12 and sent to the Virginia state lab for testing. All three are doing well and isolating at home.
The fourth case is an individual in his 70s who traveled on a similar Nile River cruise as other positive COVID-19 patients. The individual sought care on March 10, was hospitalized, and is now doing well and isolating at home.
Related story: Two new coronavirus cases in Fairfax County
A notice from Fairfax County Public Schools states Lynbrook Elementary School will not be open on Monday, March 16, so the building can be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.
All FCPS schools are closed through April 10, and all schools except Lynbrook will be open on Monday so students can gather their belongings and laptops can be distributed to students who don’t have computers at home. Lynbrook staff will coordinate directly with families to make these arrangements.
The results are considered presumptive, pending confirmation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Virginia Department of Health reported the first death from COVID-19 today. The victim was a man in his 70s in the Virginia Peninsula, just north of Norfolk, who had been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. The cause of death was respiratory failure.
The Fairfax County Health Department is working closely with the Virginia Department of Health and local health care providers to identify additional people who came in close contact with the four most recent cases in order to decrease the spread of the illness. Those identified as close contacts will be self-quarantined and actively monitored for fever and respiratory symptoms. If they start experiencing symptoms, they will immediately undergo testing.
