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byline: Kate Andrews

Technica Corp. wins $38M FBI contract

Sterling-based Technica Corp. announced Monday it has received a $38 million contract from the FBI to support the agency’s data, optical and communications networks over the next four-and-a-half years if all options are exercised.

The network services and engineering support task order was awarded from the FBI’s IT Supplies and Support Services contract for the Transport Services Technology Unit (TSTU), which has more than 42,000 users at four classification levels, according to Technica, which provides system engineering services to defense, intelligence, law enforcement and other federal agencies. Services for this contract will be provided at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and the bureau’s new Huntsville, Alabama, campus.

“Technica has supported the FBI for more than 15 years in various critical engineering and network architecture roles, delivering essential innovation,” Technica President and CEO Miguel Collado said in a statement. “This award reinforces our commitment to the FBI’s intelligence-driven organization through low-risk, high-quality and innovative information services to establish efficient retrieval, sharing and use of information, securely enabling the FBI to protect America from criminal and terrorist threats.”

COVID roundup: AG says Va. public colleges can require vaccine

As more Virginians get vaccinated, the attorney general has issued an opinion concluding that the state’s public colleges and universities can require COVID-19 vaccinations for in-person attendance this fall — although it remains up to individual institutions.

“There is no question that the General Assembly could enact a statute requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for in-person school attendance,” Attorney Gen. Mark Herring wrote in the opinion released Monday. Also, the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Norman Oliver, has “the power of ‘requiring immediate immunization of all persons in case of an epidemic of any disease of public health importance for which a vaccine exists other than a person to whose health the administration of a vaccine would be detrimental as certified in writing by a physician licensed to practice medicine in this commonwealth.’”

Issued at the request of Del. Mark Keam, D-Fairfax County, the opinion says that colleges and universities that do require vaccines “should be prepared to provide reasonable accommodations for medical conditions and/or religious objections.” In recent weeks, some universities in the U.S. have announced a vaccine mandate, including Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown, American and George Washington universities, but so far no Virginia-based schools have followed suit.

As of Monday, 3.6 million Virginians have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 2.4 million are fully vaccinated, according to the Virginia Department of Health. And after a nearly two-week nationwide pause, state health care providers are now administering Johnson & Johnson vaccines again.

Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week that he plans to lift more restrictions beginning May 15, including allowing 250 people to gather at outdoor events and 100 people indoors, as well as higher attendance at entertainment venues and sporting events. Restaurants also will be able to sell and serve alcohol after midnight.

Also, many individual health districts are making efforts to simplify the process of making a vaccination appointment, now that the entire state is in phase 2, in which all Virginians age 16 and older are now eligible for the vaccine. There are outreach events, walk-in clinics and more information available in multiple languages.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted their pause on the use of the J&J vaccine since April 12, when the federal agencies said they needed to further investigate a rare blood clot that affected six women days after they received the one-dose vaccine, including one Virginia woman who died.

Virginia vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula said in a statement Friday that Virginia would begin allowing VDH administrators to resume using the vaccine and that other providers would be notified they can use the vaccine. “This extra scrutiny should instill confidence in the system that is in place to guarantee COVID-19 vaccine safety,” Avula said. “As with any vaccine, we encourage individuals to educate themselves on any potential side effects and to weigh that against the possibility of hospitalization or death from COVID-19.”

Vaccination in Va.

Statewide, 42.9% of the population — 3,664,745 people — have received at least one dose, while 2,445,766 people or 28.7% of the state’s population are fully vaccinated as of Monday, and the state is administering 74,315 doses per day.

Although there are exceptions in which communities are allowing walk-in vaccination, appointments are still required at most clinics. All adult residents of Virginia can now register to get vaccinated at vaccinate.virginia.gov or call (877) VAX-IN-VA, or (877) 829-4682.

Statewide spread

Over the past week, the state recorded 7,818 new COVID-19 cases, a decrease from the previous week, which saw 10,249 cases, and 111 people died last week of virus-related causes, VDH reported. The previous week, there were 109 COVID fatalities. As of Monday, the state has reported 654,929 total cases and 10,706 deaths, and the current seven-day positivity rate is 5.4%, down 0.7% from last week.

The state now ranks 14th in the nation for percentage of vaccine doses administered, according to CDC data analyzed by Becker’s Hospital Review.

According to the University of Virginia’s COVID-19 model, the state continues to see cases climb, especially new viral variants, and Virginia may see cases peak again in early July if residents loosen prevention measures, researchers say. The model predicts a peak of 58,716 cases in the week ending July 11.

As of April 21, Lord Fairfax Health District, in the northwestern part of the state, is seeing a surge in cases, defined as “sustained rapid growth and exceeds recent inflection points.” Districts experiencing slow growth include: Alleghany, Central Shenandoah, Mount Rogers, New River, Rappahannock, Virginia Beach and Western Tidewater.

As of April 22, Mount Rogers has a seven-day positivity rate of 10%, down from 10.1% on April 15. The rest of the state’s health districts now have rates below 10%.

State demographics

With race and ethnicity information available for only 58.8% of people who have received shots in the state, the majority of shots have been received by white, non-Hispanic people — 63.2% as of Monday, according to VDH. Black Virginians have received 14.0% of shots, although they make up 19.9% of the state’s population, according to 2019 estimates by the U.S. Census; 10.7% of vaccines were given to Latino residents, who comprise about 9.8% of Virginians.

State health officials have focused attention on equitable administration of vaccinations, especially as Latino and Black residents are heavily represented among people who have been infected, hospitalized and died from the coronavirus. Among Virginia’s COVID deaths for which ethnicity and race were recorded, 24.8% were Black, and 6.3% were Latino.

National and global news

Globally, there are 147.3 million reported COVID-19 cases and 3,112,019 confirmed deaths, as of April 26. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 32 million confirmed cases so far, with 572,201 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February 2020. According to the CDC, 139.9 million U.S. residents have received at least one vaccine dose, or 42.2% of the nation’s population, and 94.7 million people, or 28.5% of the U.S. population, are fully vaccinated.

Although a billion shots have been given worldwide, some countries — most notably India — are currently experiencing surges in new cases. According to The New York Times’ COVID tracker, the seven-day global daily average hit 774,404 on Sunday, a 34,000 increase from the last worldwide surge in January. The United States has lifted a ban on the export of raw materials for vaccine production, and the Biden administration said it will supply India with test kits, therapeutics, ventilators and protective gear.

Va. jobless claims up 173% from last week

For the April 13-17 filing week, 13,751 Virginians submitted initial unemployment claims, a 173% increase from the previous week, but an 83% decrease from this time a year ago when jobless claims were near a peak during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week’s new claims rose by 8,717 compared to those from the week ending April 10, when 5,034 people filed, according to the Virginia Employment Commission’s Thursday report.

The number of continued claims filed last week — 55,273 — dropped by 2,098 from the previous week. This week a year ago, 297,993 continued claims were filed, 82% higher than last week. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

More than half of the claimants who filed for benefits last week (and the prior four weeks) reported being in the accommodation/food service, administrative and waste services, retail trade and health care and social assistance industries, according to the VEC.

The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. 

Below are the top 10 localities, listed by number of initial unemployment claims, for the week ending April 17:

  • Fairfax County, 890
  • Virginia Beach, 654
  • Prince William County, 646
  • Richmond, 646
  • Norfolk, 606
  • Alexandria, 504
  • Loudoun County, 363
  • Portsmouth, 363
  • Newport News, 334
  • Henrico County, 323

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 547,000, a decrease of 39,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 4,221,556 initial claims during the same week last year.

Bar seating reopened statewide, governor declares

For the first time in more than a year, Virginians are now allowed to sit at bars for service as long as they stay at least six feet apart.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam amended Executive Order 72 on Wednesday without an announcement, making the following policy change for restaurants, breweries, distilleries, wineries and tasting rooms: “Congregating areas of restaurants must be closed to patrons except for through-traffic. Patrons may be seated at the bar for service, provided a minimum of six feet is provided between parties.”

Northam has loosened some restrictions on gatherings in recent weeks — including allowing higher attendance at sporting events and amusement parks, as well as boosting the number of people allowed at private gatherings, up to 100 people at outdoor events, as of April 1.

Although the spread of the coronavirus continues, with 650,981 total cases and 10,653 deaths statewide, the positivity rate in Virginia has remained relatively steady for several weeks and is now at 5.9%, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Meanwhile, 3.5 million Virginians — 41% of the population — have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, VDH reported Thursday. Northam said in recent weeks that he will continue lifting restrictions as long as the coronavirus’ spread stays under control, with further loosening of restrictions expected by early May.

Bars have been a major area of concern for Northam and public health officials, who have maintained that community spread of the virus is a high risk in bars as people gather in close quarters and lose inhibitions about keeping their distance due to alcohol use.

The Virginia Restaurant Lodging and Travel Association estimated earlier this month that about one in five restaurants across the state have closed permanently during the pandemic, and many others are struggling financially due to continued restrictions.

McAuliffe has significant lead among Dems in latest poll

In a poll released Thursday, 47% of Virginia Democratic voters surveyed are backing former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s primary bid for his party’s gubernatorial nomination, according to data from Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Public Leadership. Two months ago, McAuliffe had 26% of the vote in another Wason Center poll.

With six weeks until the party’s June 8 primary, McAuliffe, who has consistently led earlier polls and fundraising, is well ahead of the other candidates seeking the Virginia Democratic Party’s nomination for governor. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is in second place with 8%, followed by state Sen. Jennifer McClellan at 6%, former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy at 5% and Del. Lee Carter at 1%. According to the poll, 27% of voters are undecided.

In the crowded primary race for lieutenant governor, Del. Sam Rasoul leads with 12% — but 64% of voters surveyed say they are undecided. The rest of the field have no more than 2% support, except for Del. Elizabeth Guzman, who had 4% but has since dropped out of the race.

Attorney Gen. Mark Herring

Mark Herring, who is running for his third term as attorney general, leads at 42%, followed by challenger Del. Jay Jones, who has 18% of the vote, although he has raised nearly as much money as Herring and has been backed by Gov. Ralph Northam and music superstar Pharrell Williams, who tweeted Jones’ first television ad this week. Jones’ support has grown from 3% in February’s poll, the Wason Center said. According to the April poll, 34% of Democratic voters are undecided on the attorney general race.

Asked if they are excited about the primary, which will determine the Democratic candidates for the November ballot, 40% of people polled said they are “very enthusiastic,” and 43% said “somewhat enthusiastic.”

With $8.5 million on hand as of March 31, McAuliffe, who is seeking a second, nonconsecutive term as governor, leads Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates in fundraising. He enjoys strong name recognition and has a 56% favorable rating among those polled April 11-20. Fairfax, who has raised the least money of the five major Democratic gubernatorial candidates ($99,204 as of March 31), has a 27% favorable rating and a 26% unfavorable rating. In 2019, two women accused Fairfax of sexual assault in 2000 and 2004, accusations Fairfax has continually denied but also continually raises in public — even bringing up the matter at the candidates’ first debate last month.

“Name recognition is a big head start, but it’s better when voters’ impression is mostly favorable,” Wason Center Academic Director Quentin Kidd said in a statement.

As for the rest of the field, most voters are not familiar with them, with more than 70% saying they have “no opinion” of McClellan or Carroll Foy — either of whom would be the first Black woman to receive the party’s nomination for governor — or Carter, the House of Delegates’ only Democratic Socialist member, who was unfamiliar to 86% of those surveyed.

“This gubernatorial field is the most diverse in the history of the commonwealth, and that has drawn a great deal of interest in the race,” Wason Center Research Director Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo said in a statement.

The Republican candidates will be decided via convention May 8.

Richmond nixes Bally’s casino proposal

The city of Richmond has cut the $650 million Bally’s casino proposal from consideration, leaving two competitors, the mayor’s office announced Wednesday morning.

The Live! Casino & Hotel proposal by Baltimore-based The Cordish Cos. and ONE Casino and Resort, proposed by Silver Spring, Maryland-based Urban One, are the only two options now being considered by an evaluation panel named by the city. According to a spokesperson for Urban One, the two finalists were allowed to enhance their proposals, and members of Richmond’s selection committee will be making site visits soon.

“We appreciate Bally’s interest to develop a resort casino project in Richmond,” Leonard Sledge, director of the city’s Department of Economic Development, said in a statement. “The evaluation panel is no longer considering the Bally’s project or the Parkway Crossings site for a resort casino due to concerns about site access, environmental factors and required approvals from non-city entities that may not be granted or extend the project timeline. We also appreciate the many Richmond citizens who have shared their thoughts throughout this process.”

Bally’s Corp. President and CEO George Papanier said in a statement Wednesday, “We are disappointed and surprised in the evaluation panel’s decision. We are the best operator to partner with the city on this endeavor and we provided the largest financial package with the most economic benefit to [Richmond] residents and business owners. We were deeply committed to this project, as well as to becoming a responsible neighbor and member of the Richmond community. Should the city reconsider its decision, we would be pleased to reengage.”

Papanier added that Rhode Island-based Bally’s still plans to offer its online sports-betting platform in the state, after it was recently awarded a temporary permit in mid-March. Virginia legalized sports wagering in January, and in February, Virginians bet $265 million on sporting events with five licensed operators.

The city recently concluded a series of virtual public meetings and accepted public comments about what is the state’s only undecided casino project under current law. Many residents around the proposed Bally’s location in Richmond’s Stratford Hills neighborhood near the Chippenham and Powhite parkways objected to the $650 million, 1.6 million-square-foot casino with sportsbook, performance space, a hotel and dining and retail outlets on a 61-acre parcel of land. The proposal also included a $100 million one-time payment to the city. Opponents pointed to traffic and crime concerns, even holding a public protest in recent weeks.

However, when the Bally’s team tried to move its proposed location, city officials turned down the request, noting that the location was part of the request for proposals last year.

Still in the running:

  • Urban One’s $600 million ONE casino, an increase from its previously announced $517 million budget. Urban One owns and operates 55 radio stations and the TV One cable network, and it has paired with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, Colonial Downs Group’s owner and the Rosie’s Gaming Emporium franchise owner. This project, including a sportsbook, 200 hotel rooms (up from 150 previously announced rooms), a 3,000-seat theater, 100,000 square feet of gaming space (up from 90,000 square feet), and 12 bars and restaurants, would be built in a largely industrial area on 100 acres owned by Altria Group Inc. on Richmond’s South Side.
  • Baltimore-based The Cordish Cos., which owns casinos in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Florida, has proposed building the $600 million Live! Casino & Hotel Richmond resort just outside the trendy Scott’s Addition neighborhood, on the current Movieland theater property near The Diamond baseball stadium. The resort would include a hotel with 300 rooms and 30 suites, a 4,000-seat entertainment venue and 250,000 square feet of gaming space. In an update sent to Virginia Business on Wednesday, Cordish said its proposal now also includes a pledge of more than $200 million in incremental community benefit payments to the city over the first 15 years of the project to “help fund critical community services such as education, infrastructure, health care, parks [and] recreation, workforce development and affordable housing.” Cordish also anticipates its casino would create 5,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs.

The Live! casino also has run into neighborhood resistance, citing many of the same concerns as neighbors of the Bally’s site. Urban One’s plan has seen less pushback, however.

Richmond is the last of five cities in Virginia to consider a commercial casino, and the nine-person advisory panel — including Sledge, two city councilors and other Richmond officials — is expected to make a recommendation in May to Richmond City Council, which is set to vote on the matter by June. If the council approves the casino’s operator and location, voters will have the chance to weigh in by referendum on the November ballot. Voters in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth overwhelmingly passed casino referendums last year, and four casinos are now in the works across Virginia.

Richmond and Danville were the only two cities to offer a request for proposals, and Richmond originally received six casino plans that fit its specifications. In March, Richmond narrowed the field to three, rejecting projects by the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, Golden Nugget Hotels & Casinos and Wind Creek Hospitality.

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Va. hotel revenues up 12% in March

Virginia hotel revenues for March 2021 increased by 12% compared with March 2020, according to data released Tuesday by STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides market data on the U.S. hospitality industry.

During the same period, rooms sold went up by 25%. The average daily rate (ADR) paid for hotel rooms dropped 10% to $85.59, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose to $42.80, a 13% increase.

“Performance of the hotels in the commonwealth during March 2021 was in general much better than in February 2021,” Professor Vinod Agarwal of Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy said in a statement. “With increasing vaccinations, declining COVID-19 infections and rising consumer confidence, we have begun to see significant improvement in the performance of the hotel industry over the 2020 levels and we expect these improvements to continue each month through the end of 2021.”

Hotel revenues and rooms sold increased in most markets during March 2021, compared with March 2020, as the COVID pandemic took hold in the commonwealth. Revenues fell 32% in the Northern Virginia market, but they rose 69% in Charlottesville and 42% in Hampton Roads. In February, revenues fell 63% in Northern Virginia, 24% in Charlottesville and 17% in Hampton Roads. The number of rooms sold during March 2021 fell by 4% in Northern Virginia but increased by 67% in Charlottesville and 62% in the Hampton Roads market. The Virginia Beach area fared better than other markets, with a 100% increase in hotel revenue, followed closely by 93% in Williamsburg.

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Parsons Corp. names new CEO

Centreville-based defense contractor Parsons Corp. announced Tuesday that CEO Charles “Chuck” Harrington is retiring after nearly 40 years and will be replaced by President and Chief Operating Officer Carey Smith effective July 1.

A member of Parsons’ board, Smith joined Parsons in 2016 as president of its federal solutions business and became COO in 2018, helping to take the company public in 2019. In January, she joined Parsons’ board of directors.

Harrington, who will continue on the board as executive chairman after his retirement, has served as CEO for 13 years and joined Parsons in 1982 as an engineer, performing contract work on classified projects for the federal Energy and Defense departments.

“Leading and transforming Parsons into the technology company we are today has been one of the greatest honors of my life, and I know the company is in great hands,” Harrington said. “After nearly 40 years, I’m proud of the company we’ve built, humbled by the amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of working with, and pleased that the accomplishments we’ve achieved will deliver a better world.”

Before joining Parsons, Smith was president of Honeywell’s defense and space business unit, and she also held several executive positions at Lockheed Martin. She holds degrees in electrical engineering from Syracuse University and Ohio Northern University, and Smith serves on the board of Edison International, as well as on boards for three nonprofits, including the Professional Services Council, for which she serves as vice chair and on its executive committee.

“I’m honored to be chosen by the board as Parsons’ next chief executive,” Smith said in a statement. “It’s a privilege to lead this exceptional, high-integrity company and to build on Chuck’s legacy. He has always put our customers’ missions and our employees’ and shareholders’ interests first, and I look forward to continuing to work with Chuck in his role as executive chairman, as well as the rest of the board and Parsons team. Most importantly, I’ll continue our commitment to our core values and to leading our highly engaged employees as they develop advanced technology solutions that deliver on our customers’ critical missions.”

Established in 1944, Parsons specializes in defense, intelligence, security, and infrastructure engineering. It employs more than 16,000 workers in 24 nations. Last month, the company announced it has landed a 10-year information technology contract from the Defense Intelligence Agency potentially worth $12.6 billion.

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Biotech firm moving to new Richmond location, creating 250 jobs

Grenova Inc., a Richmond-based sustainable biotech company, plans to move to a larger facility in the city, investing $10.6 million and creating 250 jobs over the next three years, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday.

The company is currently located in the Manchester neighborhood but will move to a larger facility across from The Diamond baseball park in the Scott’s Addition area, the governor said. Grenova, founded in 2014, designs and manufactures devices that wash and sterilize pipette tips for reuse and has seen its business quadruple in the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its product Tipnovus lets labs that conduct COVID tests cleanse pipette tips so they don’t have to discard them after one use.

We are thrilled to celebrate this homegrown sustainable biotech firm expanding and adding to its workforce in Richmond,” Northam said in a statement. “It is remarkable to see Virginia’s innovative life sciences businesses quickly adapt and respond to critical needs as we fight this pandemic. Grenova is an emerging industry leader that has achieved exponential growth in a short time, and I applaud the company for leveraging its technology and expertise to address a global shortage and reduce environmental waste.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the city of Richmond to secure the deal, and Grenova is eligible for benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program administered by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The company also will receive funding and assistance to support recruitment and training through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

“Our growth is a sign that the world is ready to rethink, reimagine, and reinvent the way plastic consumables like pipette tips are washed and reused within the life sciences industry and beyond,” Ali Safavi, founder and CEO of Grenova, said in a statement. “We’re proud to make our bold solution possible from our expanded headquarters in Richmond thanks to the commonwealth’s thriving ecosystem of world-class talent, resources, and infrastructure.”

COVID roundup: Va. now offering vaccines to everyone age 16+

All Virginians age 16 and up are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, which you may have heard Monday morning in a loud public safety alert sent to smartphones by the Virginia Department of Health.

All U.S. states met President Joe Biden’s April 19 deadline to expand vaccine eligibility for all adults, regardless of job, age or health status, and half of all adults in the country — 131 million people — have received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Virginia, 39.9% of the population — 3.4 million people, a little more than half of all adults in the state — have gotten at least one shot, and 25% of the population is fully vaccinated. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine remains on pause while federal authorities study the cause of blood clots that affected six women, killing one in Virginia, days after they received the J&J shot. After CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration called April 12 for a pause in administration of the one-dose vaccine, Virginia and the rest of the U.S. immediately stopped using it.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Sunday he expects a decision on the vaccine to be handed down by an advisory group of CDC officials by Friday.

“Today, our message is simple: If you’re an adult, you should get a shot,” Gov. Ralph Northam said Monday afternoon at a COVID news briefing at the new Tysons Community Vaccination Center in Fairfax County. “However you’re able to get an appointment, please get vaccinated. Vaccinations are the only way to get back to normal.”

He was accompanied by U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, who noted that the pandemic has now been in Virginia for 57 weeks and urged all adults to get vaccinated. “We are on the verge of getting this virus licked,” he said.

Although there are exceptions in which communities are allowing walk-in vaccination, appointments are still required at most places. All adult residents of Virginia can now register to get vaccinated at vaccinate.virginia.gov or call (877) VAX-IN-VA, or (877) 829-4682.

Over the past week, the state recorded 10,249 new COVID-19 cases, a small decrease from the previous week, which saw 10,691 cases, and 109 people died last week of virus-related causes, VDH reported. As of Monday, the state has reported 647,111 total cases and 10,595 deaths, and the current seven-day positivity rate is 6.1%, the same as last week.

The state now ranks 14th in the nation for percentage of vaccine doses administered, according to CDC data analyzed by Becker’s Hospital Review.

According to the University of Virginia’s COVID-19 model, three health districts — Mount Rogers in Southwest Virginia, Rappahannock Rapidan in the northwestern part of the state, and Alexandria — are currently seeing a surge in COVID cases, defined as “sustained rapid growth and exceeds recent inflection points.” Districts experiencing slow growth include: Eastern Shore, Henrico County, Lenowisco, Loudoun County, Lord Fairfax, Norfolk, Prince William County, Rappahannock, Richmond and Western Tidewater.

With race and ethnicity information available for only 59.6% of people who have received shots in the state, the majority of shots have been received by white, non-Hispanic people — 64.3% as of Monday, according to VDH. Black Virginians have received 14.1% of shots, although they make up 19.9% of the state’s population, according to 2019 estimates by the U.S. Census; 9.8% of vaccines were given to Latino residents, who comprise about 9.8% of Virginians.

State health officials have focused attention on equitable administration of vaccinations, especially as Latino and Black residents are heavily represented among people who have been infected, hospitalized and died from the coronavirus. Among Virginia’s COVID deaths for which ethnicity and race were recorded, 24.7% were Black, and 6.4% were Latino.

As of April 15, the following health districts have positivity rates of 10% or higher:

  • Hampton — 10.7%, down from 10.9% on April 9
  • Portsmouth — 10.4%, up from 9.9%
  • Chesapeake — 10.2%, up from 9.6%
  • Mount Rogers —10.1%, down from 14.2%

Globally, there are 141.5 million reported COVID-19 cases and 3,022,265 confirmed deaths, as of April 19. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 31.6 million confirmed cases so far, with 567,233 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February 2020. According to the CDC, 131.2 million U.S. residents have received at least one vaccine dose, or 39.5% of the nation’s population, and 84.2 million people, or 25.4% of the U.S. population, are fully vaccinated.

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