By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Oct. 16 — The Lord Fairfax Health District reported 40 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday — over the past seven days, the district has seen 240 new cases, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
Prior to October, the health district had not seen 40 new cases of the coronavirus reported in a single day since July 1. In the past nine days, the district has reached, or surpassed, 40 new cases on four days.
Frederick County (89) and the City of Winchester (24) account for 47 percent of the new cases across the health district in the past week. However, the increase in cases is spread throughout the region as Shenandoah County has reported 47 new cases in the last seven days, while Warren County reported 41.
Page County has seen 25 new cases in the past week, with seven of those reported on Friday. Page’s 14-day positivity rate has increased to 8.5 percent, according to School Metrics data provided on the VDH website. ZIP code data provided by the state health department shows that the new cases surfacing over the past week have been spread evenly throughout the county.
The health district only reported two new hospitalizations due to the coronavirus over the past week, one each in Winchester and Shenandoah County. The district also saw only two COVID-19 deaths — one reported in Page County on Wednesday, and one reported in Warren County on Thursday.
A cumulative breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 3,595 reported cases, 303 hospitalizations and 121 deaths is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):
- 1,068 — Frederick County (74-13)
- 902 — Shenandoah County (95-59)
- 549 — City of Winchester (40-4)
- 514 — Warren County (35-14)
- 449 — Page County (47-30)
- 113 — Clarke County (12-1)
The City of Harrisonburg saw a jump from six new cases reported on Thursday to 22 on Friday, while Rockingham County reported 11 new cases Thursday and 12 on Friday. Rockingham has seen two new hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in the past two days, while Harrisonburg reported one. Neither locality has reported a pandemic-related death in the past eight days.
Statewide, 1,183 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Friday. There were only 10 days during the month of September that the state exceeded 1,000 new cases. Currently, Virginia has exceeded 1,000 new cases on eight of the 16 days in October — and on six of the last nine days.
Currently, the statewide seven-day positivity rate stands at 4.8 percent. That rate has climbed gradually over the past three days from 4.5 percent. Each of the last two days has seen 76 new hospitalizations, a level not reported since mid-September.
The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported Friday that 1,002 people are currently hospitalized that have either been confirmed to have COVID-19 or are awaiting test results. That figure has only climbed above 1,000 four times since Sept. 16 — and that includes the last three days.
Among those hospitalized, 222 are currently in intensive care being treated for COVID-19, according to VHHA — an increase of two since yesterday. Currently, there are 104 COVID-19 patients statewide on ventilators — up two from Wednesday.
Since the pandemic hit Virginia, VHHA reports that 18,911 people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 and were hospitalized, have been discharged.
The state health department reported 20 additional deaths due to the pandemic on Friday — the highest one-day total in eight days. That brings the state death toll from COVID-19 to 3,408.
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With both sides of the isle continuing to bicker. Americans are paying the price. Washington needs to get it together. Families are suffering and paying the Price. Maybe they should talk to the average person who is home schooling and trying to work