By Randy Arrington
LURAY, April 19 — Page County saw more new cases of the coronavirus reported over last week than in the previous two weeks combined, while the positivity rate has almost doubled in the last seven days.
The Virginia Department of Health reported 29 new cases of COVID-19 in Page County over the past week, after only reporting 14 new cases the previous week and 12 the week before that. The increase has driven the seven-day positivity rate to 4.2 percent, after sitting at just 2.8 percent last Monday. The positivity rate reached a peak this past week of 4.6 percent on Friday.
According to ZIP code data provided by VDH, the new cases reported over the last seven days in Page County surfaced in the following areas:
• 10 cases — Luray area (22835);
• 10 cases — Shenandoah area (22849);
• 5 cases — Stanley area (22851);
• 4 cases — Rileyville area (22650).
Page County reported two new hospitalizations due to COVID-19 this past week (Thursday and Saturday), but the county has not reported a pandemic-related death since March 17.
While the case count has been increasing locally, so has vaccine distribution. A total of 848 vaccines were administered to Page County residents this past week, compared to 687 the previous week. As of Monday, nearly 30 percent of the county’s population had received at least one dose of the vaccine (7,051), while just over 20 percent (4,922) are now fully vaccinated. So far, a total of 11,518 vaccines have been administered in Page County.
The Lord Fairfax Health District saw 462 new cases of COVID-19 reported across its six jurisdictions in the past seven days, along with 16 new hospitalizations and six deaths. Frederick County continues to lead the health district in daily case count, averaging more than 20 new cases per day. However, there have been recent spikes in Shenandoah County — 106 cases in the last five days — and in Warren County (86 cases since Thursday). The City of Winchester saw its daily case counts remain in the single digits for most of the last two weeks, before reporting 21 new cases of COVID-19 in the last two days.
Warren County reported three of the district’s six COVID-related deaths over the past week, while Frederick County reported two fatalities and Winchester had one.
Across the state, more than 5.3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, with more than 3.4 million receiving at least one dose (39.9 percent of the statewide population) and over 2.1 million fully vaccinated (25 percent). Currently, Virginia is averaging 77,983 doses of the vaccine being administered each day.
The commonwealth’s seven-day positivity rate has remained fairly steady in April and currently stands at its monthly low of 6.1 percent. The high for the month was 6.4 percent during April’s first few days.
Governor Ralph Northam announced earlier this month that Virginia’s vaccination centers would open up to all adults in the state beginning April 18.
Vaccines are available by pre-registration and appointment. To pre-register, or to update your pre-registration record, visit www.vaccinate.virginia.gov or call 1-877-VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682). English- and Spanish-speaking operators are available. Translation services also are available, in more than 100 languages. For TTY, dial 7-1-1.
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