Driven by SW Va., state’s COVID-19 rate rises to 6.1%

Virginia’s number of COVID-19 cases jumped by more than 10,000 last week, bringing the state’s positivity rate to 6.1%, up from 5.8% on Nov. 2, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s report Monday, Nov. 9. The sharpest increases have been seen in the Roanoke region and Southwest Virginia, where neighboring states also have seen spikes in cases over the past few weeks.

The state saw an increase of 55 coronavirus-related deaths over the past week, bringing the total to 3,713, with 10,059 new cases, for a total of 193,477 since February.

Meanwhile, the United States surpassed 10 million cases Monday, up from 9 million just 10 days ago.

Gov. Ralph Northam has raised an alarm about the increase in cases in Southwest Virginia, in part because family gatherings are increasing the spread. In an Oct. 28 COVID-19 update, Northam urged caution among residents and asked them to wear face masks in public. Ballad Health, which runs hospitals and health care facilities in Southwest Virginia and eastern Tennessee, announced this weekend that Saturday was the largest single-day case report it has seen since the beginning of the pandemic in the Tri-Cities region of Bristol, Kingsport, Tennessee, and Johnson City, Tennessee, with 196 COVID patients hospitalized.

The following health districts reported positivity rates above 10% as of Nov. 5:

• Alleghany (cities of Covington and Salem and the counties of Alleghany, Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke) — 10.0%, down from 12.5% on Oct. 29
• Cumberland Plateau (Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell counties)  — 13.2%, up from 10.1%
• Lenowisco (Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the city of Norton) — 13.9%, down from 18.1%
• Mount Rogers (cities of Bristol and Galax and counties of Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth, Washington and Wythe) — 11.8%, up from 9.9%
• Roanoke — 10.3%, up from 10.2%
• West Piedmont (Franklin, Henry and Patrick counties and the city of Martinsville) — 14.7%, up from 10.9%

Several Virginia universities report COVID-19 rates among students, faculty and staff members, although some universities use different reporting metrics and methods. Here are the most current university stats:

• James Madison University: 1,614 total cases since July 1 (note: according to JMU, this number is lower than last week’s because of data entry errors that have since been corrected). The overall positivity rate of student tests at the university’s health center was 2.0% as of Nov. 9.
• Virginia Tech: 1,589 positive tests since Aug. 3, with 84 new cases from Nov. 2-8. The seven-day positivity rate as of Nov. 8 is 3.1%.
• University of Virginia: 1,133 positive cases among students and employees reported since Aug. 17. The university recorded 33 new cases from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5, according to its tracker.
• Virginia Commonwealth University: 405 total positive tests, including 358 student cases, as of Nov. 6. According to prevalence testing, the positivity rate is 0.21% as of Nov. 6.
• Old Dominion University: 173 positive cases out of 6,352 tests performed as of Nov. 9. From Nov. 1-7, there were nine new positive tests.
• George Mason University: 134 positive cases among students and employees between Aug. 17 and Nov. 5, including 19 positive tests in the past two weeks.
• Radford University: 538 total positive cases among students and employees as of Nov. 3, with 14 new cases between Oct. 27-Nov. 3. Cumulative positivity rate is 10.52% as of Nov. 3. The dashboard is updated each Tuesday.
• Liberty University: 67 positive cases from Oct. 21-Nov. 3 among students and staff, out of a total 658 cases between Aug. 16-Nov. 3.

These are the 10 Virginia localities that have seen the most cases in the state, as of Nov. 9:

• Fairfax County: 25,463
• Prince William County: 15,286
• Virginia Beach: 8,737
• Loudoun County: 8,413
• Chesterfield County: 7,709
• Henrico County: 6,937
• Richmond: 5,772
• Norfolk: 5,728
• Chesapeake: 5,301
• Arlington County: 5,060

Globally, there are 50.5 million reported COVID-19 cases and 1,258,321 confirmed deaths as of Nov. 9. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 10 million confirmed cases so far, with 237,608 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February.

Below is the latest data from VDH:

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