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 cases is 3,612, with 599.1 new cases per 100,000 people within the past 14 days. There are 2,563 people currently hospitalized with COVID or with test results pending in Virginia, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association’s Dec. 28 update. Thirty-three percent of the state’s ventilators are in use, and 78% of all ICU beds are occupied by COVID and non-COVID patients.

Meanwhile, 41,709 people in Virginia have received one dose of a COVID vaccine, and 227,425 doses from Moderna and Pfizer Inc. have been distributed through the state to 96 facilities, VDH reports. Two doses of each vaccine are required to be fully vaccinated. According to most recent estimates, the state expects to receive 370,650 doses of the vaccines by the end of the year, or about 100,000 per week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued  guidance last week from a panel of doctors and public health experts, which set vaccination priorities. After frontline care givers and long-term care facility residents and workers receive the vaccine, the next populations in line for COVID-19 vaccinations would be people ages 75 and older and about 30 million “frontline essential workers,” including grocery store workers, teachers and emergency responders. Others — including people age 65 to 74 and those with serious health conditions — will follow these groups, and Virginia public health officials expect the vaccines to be broadly available by summer 2021.

VDH’s COVID outbreak dashboard updated on Fridays gives specific locations of virus outbreaks across the state and the number of people who tested positive and those who have died. As of Dec. 25, the largest current outbreaks include: Valley Health Care Center, Smyth County (182 cases; 26 deaths); The Virginian, Fairfax County (173 cases; 27 deaths); Richfield Living, Salem (169 cases; 9 deaths).

The following health districts reported positivity rates above 10% as of Dec. 24:

• Alleghany (Alleghany, Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke counties and the cities of Covington, Roanoke and Salem) — 11.6%, up from 10.2% on Dec. 17
• Central Shenandoah (Augusta, Bath, Highland, Rockbridge and Rockingham counties and the cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton and Waynesboro) — 17.0%, up from 15.1%
• Central Virginia (Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell counties and Lynchburg) — 17.1%, down from 17.7%
• Chesapeake — 17.8%, up from 14.7%
• Chesterfield — 13.6%, up from 10.7%
• Crater (Dinwiddie, Greensville, Prince George, Surry and Sussex counties and the cities of Emporia, Hopewell and Petersburg) — 11.7%, up from 9.3%
• Cumberland Plateau (Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell counties)  — 22,5%, up from 19.6%
• Eastern Shore (Accomack and Northampton counties) — 11.8%, up from 10.4%
• Fairfax — 10.5%, down from 10.8%
• Hampton — 15.4%, up from 13.7%
• Lenowisco (Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the city of Norton) — 21.4%, down from 23.3%
• Lord Fairfax (Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah and Warren counties and Winchester) — 14.4%, up from 11.9%
• Loudoun — 11.6%, down from 12.1%
• Mount Rogers (cities of Bristol and Galax and counties of Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth, Washington and Wythe) — 20.6%, down from 22.3%
• New River (Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties and Radford) — 11.7%, up from 10.6%
• Norfolk — 13.1%, up from 12.3%
• Peninsula (Newport News, Poquoson, Williamsburg, James City and York counties) — 13.1%, up from 11.7%
• Piedmont (Amelia, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Lunenburg, Nottoway and Prince Edward counties) — 22.0%, up from 17.5%
• Pittsylvania-Danville — 12.4%, down from 13.0%
• Portsmouth — 18.5%, up from 14.2%
• Prince William — 17.2%, up from 16.4%
• Rappahannock (Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties and Fredericksburg) — 12.3%, two weeks running
• Roanoke — 16.8%, up from 13.8%
• Three Rivers (Essex, Gloucester, King and Queen, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland counties) — 13.4%, up from 9.0%
• Virginia Beach — 13.8%, down from 14.3%
• West Piedmont (Franklin, Henry and Patrick counties and the city of Martinsville) — 17.0%, up from 16.2%

These are the 10 Virginia localities that have seen the most cases in the state, as of Dec. 28:

• Fairfax County: 42,786
• Prince William County: 24,795
• Virginia Beach: 15,864
• Loudoun County: 13,683
• Chesterfield County: 12,552
• Henrico County: 11,844
• Chesapeake: 9,043
• Richmond: 8,901
• Arlington County: 8,631
• Norfolk: 8,448

Globally, there are 80.9 million reported COVID-19 cases and 1,768,048 confirmed deaths, as of Dec. 28. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 19.1 million confirmed cases so far, with 333,326 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February.

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