Lord Fairfax Health District continues to see influx of new COVID-19 cases

COVID-19 Coronavirus in Page County, Virginia — Page Valley News will have continuing coverage of the Coronavirus' impact on Page County.

By Randy Arrington

LURAY, Oct. 12 — The Virginia Department of Health has reported 202 new cases of COVID-19 within the Lord FairFax Health District over the past week.

After the pandemic’s initial surge across the region in April and May, and a flare up in July, the local health district only reported more than 20 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day three times from July 24 to Sept. 30. However, the district has now seen eight of the last 10 days with more than 20 new cases of the coronavirus reported across the health district.

Last Thursday, the district reported 47 new cases of the virus — the highest one-day mark since June 3. Monday’s report only showed 29 new cases across the region, after reporting 37 on Saturday and 40 on Sunday.

Frederick County (including Winchester) and Shenandoah County have seen the majority of those new cases, with 82 reported over the past week in Frederick and Winchester alone. Shenandoah County reported 52 new cases in the past week.

All three hospitalizations reported within the health district on Monday were in Winchester (2) and Frederick (1). There have been a total of 13 hospitalizations spread throughout the district over the past week.

Page County reported three of those hospitalizations in the last seven days, along with 20 new cases. Page has seen eight cases reported since Friday.

Page County currently has a 14-day positivity rate of 7.2 percent, which puts it in the “Moderate Risk” category under CDC guidelines on the state’s health department’s School Metrics breakdown. Page falls under the “Higher Risk” category in another Core Indicator — the number of new cases per 100,000 population within the last 14 days. Under Secondary Indicators, Page is labeled as “Highest Risk” for its 33.3 percent increase in new cases per 100,000 population during the last seven days compared to the previous seven days.

Under the School Metrics map on the VDH website, most counties in the state are listed as “Higher Risk,” with nearby Rappahannock County being one of the few listed as “Moderate Risk.” Bland County in southwest Virginia is the only locality in the state listed as “Low Risk.” Currently, Southside Virginia is the region with the “Highest Risk.”

Three deaths due to COVID-19 were reported over the past week in the Lord Fairfax Health District — all in Warren County.

A cumulative breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 3,462 reported cases, 294 hospitalizations and 119 deaths is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):

1,018 — Frederick County (69-13)
879 — Shenandoah County (94-59)
534 — City of Winchester (39-4)
490 — Warren County (34-13)
432 — Page County (46-29)
109 — Clarke County (12-1)

Harrisonburg reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, while Rockingham County had six, along with two hospitalizations.

Statewide, 854 new cases of the coronavirus were reported Monday, along with 34 new hospitalizations — both up from Sunday’s report.

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported Monday that 965 people are currently hospitalized that have either been confirmed to have COVID-19 or are awaiting test results. That figure is about the same as Friday after dipping slightly over the weekend.

Among those hospitalized, 205 are currently in intensive care being treated for COVID-19, according to VHHA — the same figure as Friday. Currently, there are 92 COVID-19 patients statewide on ventilators — up five from Friday.

Since the pandemic hit Virginia, VHHA reports that 18,539 people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 and were hospitalized, have been discharged.

According to data provided by VHHA last week during a webinar, more than two-thirds of hospitalized coronavirus patients statewide between April and June had high blood pressure — followed by chronic kidney failure (50 percent of COVID-19 patients), and high cholesterol (43 percent). Other leading conditions combined with COVID-19 that lead to hospitalizations, according to VHHA, were diabetes, anemia, obesity and coronary heart disease.

Between April and June, the average age of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Virginia was 68. However, there were also dozens of young adults and nearly 50 children younger than 1 who were hospitalized due to the coronavirus as well.

There have been more than 2 million tests given statewide for the novel coronavirus. Virginia currently has a seven-day positivity rate of 4.5 percent — down from nearly 5 percent a week ago.

VDH reported only three new deaths related to the pandemic on Monday, after only reporting four on Sunday. Virginia’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 3,361.