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State sees one COVID death every 39 minutes
Every 39 minutes, a person died from COVID-19 in Virginia last week, according to reports from the state health department Monday. The state’s COVID-19 numbers continued to climb, with 35,850 new cases over the past week and 261 deaths, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s Jan. 11 update. The current seven-day positivity rate is […]
COVID-19 vaccinations for Va. essential workers start Monday
On Monday, 11 Virginia health districts will begin COVID-19 vaccinations of “frontline essential workers,” including police, teachers and grocery store workers, the Virginia Department of Health announced Friday afternoon. Some regions will continue vaccinations of priority group 1a, which includes frontline health care providers and employees and residents of long-term care facilities[...]
General Assembly will see limited in-person gatherings, higher security for 2021 Lobby Day
A federal judge said Friday that a dispute over the scheduled closing of the Pocahontas Building, the temporary offices for delegates and state senators during the General Assembly session, has been settled. In December, Virginia state Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, sued Senate Rules Committee Chair Sen. Mamie E. Locke, D-Hampton, who announced that the […]
Initial jobless claims jumped 64.3% last week
The number of initial jobless claims filed last week jumped a staggering 64.3% to more than 19,000, according to Virginia Employment Commission data released Thursday. This is the highest number of initial claims reported since August 2020. For the week ending Jan. 2, 19,530 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, an increase of 7,640 claimants […]
Northam sets accelerated goals for vaccinations
In his first COVID-19 news conference of the year, Gov. Ralph Northam said the state is aiming to administer 25,000 COVID vaccine shots per day to Virginians, up from the current 14,000 shots per day. He hopes to get to 50,000 daily vaccinations as soon as possible, although the state is waiting for more doses […]
Virginia sees record daily COVID-19 rises
Just after surpassing more than 5,000 coronavirus-related deaths, Virginia hit its highest daily average of new COVID-19 cases for the third day in a row. As of Monday, the state’s seven-day average of new cases stands at a record high of 4,480. On Saturday, Jan. 2, the average was 4,168; on Sunday, Jan. 3, the […]
Virginia has administered 50K+ COVID-19 vaccine doses so far
Having received 285,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from two manufacturers, Virginia has distributed more than 54,000 doses in the past two weeks. Nationally, there’s been frustration with the vaccine rollout, which has been slower than expected. The Trump administration had pledged that 20 million doses of the vaccine would be administered across the country by the […]
Northam commits additional $20M to economic recovery fund
Gov. Ralph Northam has allocated an additional $20 million in federal CARES Act funding to assist more than 300 small businesses and nonprofits through the Rebuild VA economic recovery fund. The new funding will meet demand for the Rebuild VA program and fulfill pending grant applications for small businesses and nonprofits that applied before the […]
Va. COVID-19 rate passes 12% this week
Virginia recorded 25,285 new COVID-19 cases and 207 more deaths last week, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s Dec. 28 update. The current seven-day positivity rate is 12.3%, up .9% from a week ago. The state has reported 336,175 cases and 4,861 deaths since March, and the current seven-day average number of daily new […]
Number of initial jobless claims remained at 14K last week
The number of initial jobless claims filed last week stayed close to its Aug. 8 peak, with more than 14,000 Virginians filing new unemployment claims, according to Virginia Employment Commission data released Wednesday. For the week ending Dec. 19, 14,640 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, an increase of 131 claimants from the previous week. […]
First batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine distributed in Va.
Virginia health districts and health care facilities statewide began receiving the newly approved Moderna COVID-19 vaccine this week, Virginia Department of Health announced Tuesday. About 140,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine were expected to arrive by Wednesday, as well as 50,000 more doses of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine, which will be distributed to 96 sites […]
Northam orders companies held temporarily harmless for pandemic layoffs
Gov. Ralph Northam issued an executive order Tuesday that will hold Virginia businesses harmless for any layoffs made during three months of the pandemic. The end-of-year order protects businesses from having to pay an additional $200 million in payroll taxes to replenish the Virginia Employment Commission’s Unemployment Insurance Trust. Due to the COVID-19 economic fallout, […]
