By Randy Arrington
LURAY, June 26 — The Lord Fairfax Health District, covering the northern Shenandoah Valley, only reported three new cases of COVID-19 on Friday morning. That’s the lowest single-day total for new cases of the coronavirus since the first cases were reported in mid-March.
The health district saw a total of 59 new cases reported this week by the Virginia Department of Health. Warren County saw the highest influx with 17 new cases of the virus. The City of Winchester was close behind with 16 new cases, Shenandoah County had 12 and Frederick County reported nine. Both Clarke and Page counties only saw three new cases in the past week.
In Page County, the Town of Shenandoah (ZIP code 22849) saw one new case reported on Tuesday and on Thursday. The Town of Stanley (ZIP code 22851) had one new case reported on Thursday. The Town of Luray (ZIP code 22835) has not seen a new case since Father’s Day. A complete ZIP code breakdown of cases and testing for Page County is as follows:
- 22835 (Luray) — 153 cases, 585 tests, 26.2% positivity rate;
- 22851 (Stanley) — 72 cases, 236 tests, 30.5% positivity rate;
- 22849 (Shenandoah) — 36 cases, 259 tests, 13.9% positivity rate.
Page County has not seen a new hospitalization related to the pandemic since June 13, and no new deaths related to the coronavirus since June 2.
Among the health district’s 59 new cases this week, only six new hospitalizations were reported by VDH, with half of them in Warren County. Frederick and Shenandoah counties, along with Winchester, each reported one.
The district also reported two new deaths related to COVID-19 this week. One was reported in Shenandoah County on Thursday, and the other in Warren County on Friday.
A breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 1,902 cases of COVID-19 is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):
- 552 — Shenandoah County (57-28)
- 465 — Frederick County (34-4)
- 302 — City of Winchester (22-3)
- 269 — Warren County (19-5)
- 266 — Page County (28-24)
- 48 — Clarke County (4-0)
The City of Harrisonburg reported 20 new cases of COVID-19 this week, with one hospitalized and no related deaths. Rockingham County saw 28 new cases, with five hospitalized and no deaths.
Statewide, 624 new cases of COVID-19 were reported by VDH on Friday — the highest single-day jump in six days. Virginia’s cumulative total has surpassed another milestone, now reaching 60,570 cases since the first case was reported in Prince William County on March 7.
The number of hospitalizations statewide jumped 76 on Friday, according to VDH — the highest one-day increase since June 12.
The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported Monday that 854 people are currently hospitalized that have either been confirmed to have COVID-19 or are awaiting test results. That figure
has remained below 1,000 for the last 14 days after spending more than two months above that mark. However, the 854 hospitalized remains the same as the previous day — meaning 76 new patients arrived at Virginia hospitals as 76 patients were released for COVID-19.
Among those hospitalized, 219 are in intensive care, according to VHHA — down 18 from the previous day. Currently, there are 99 patients statewide on ventilators, down five from the previous day and down 33 since Monday. This is the first time that figure has dropped below 100 since early April.
Since the pandemic began, VHHA also reports that 7,868 people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 and were hospitalized, have been discharged.
VDH reported 25 new pandemic deaths on Friday, a slight increase over the previous two days. That brings the total fatalities related to COVID-19 in Virginia to 1,700 over the course of 15 weeks.
While Virginia is cautiously embracing a downward trend in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths — national reports indicate a dramatic increase in the nation’s most populated states.
The U.S. hit a single-day record of 37,077 new cases reported on Thursday, according to John Hopkins University. The previous one-day high of 36,291 cases was reported on April 24.
Since February, the U.S. has reported 2.4 million cases of COVID-19 and had 122,481 pandemic deaths.
California reported more than 7,000 new cases in a single day this week, while Florida and Texas each hit 5,000-plus one-day highs. The three states combined make up nearly 30 percent of the U.S. population.
The head of the CDC stated this week that the U.S. is believed to have only reported 10 percent of its actual cases, as many carriers of the disease do not show symptoms. The highest rate of increase is among those ages 18 to 44.
The economic impacts are being felt as well. California has reportedly gone from a surplus of $21 billion to a deficit of $54 billion in just a few months.
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