By Randy Arrington
LURAY, May 25 — The Virginia Department of Health reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 in Page County over the weekend. That brings the county’s cumulative total to 197 cases of the novel coronavirus reported since March 31.
Despite the continued rise in new cases, there was only one new hospitalization in the county over the weekend, and more importantly — no new deaths.
With 21 fatalities credited to COVID-19 within 27 days, Page County is currently tied with the City of Harrisonburg for the ninth-highest death rate from the pandemic in Virginia. On a per capita basis for deaths, Page leads the Commonwealth.
While 18 of those fatalities have been confirmed at Skyview Springs Rehab and Nursing Center in Luray, the remaining three have not been attributed to any particular outbreak.
VDH did not provide a ZIP code breakdown of cases and testing on Monday; however, yesterday’s report indicates that two new cases surfaced in Luray on Saturday. The next ZIP code report should indicate where the other nine new cases that cropped up on Sunday are from.
The Lord Fairfax Health District saw 63 new cases reported over the weekend. That keeps in line with the health districts’ seven-day average of 32.8 new cases per day. There were only three new hospitalizations over the last two days; two in Shenandoah County and one in Page.
Two new virus-related deaths were reported in the district; one each in Frederick and Shenandoah counties.
A breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 1,128 total cases is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):
- 376 — Shenandoah County (36-17)
- 271 — Frederick County (21-4)
- 197 — Page County (22-21)
- 145 — City of Winchester (9-1)
- 117 — Warren County (12-2)
- 22 — Clarke County (3-0)
Harrisonburg reported 18 new cases over the weekend, while Rockingham County picked up 15. There were four hospitalized between the two localities, but no new deaths related to the pandemic were reported.
Statewide, there were 1,978 new cases reported over the last two days. That’s slightly above the recent average as testing continues to ramp up. The figures for new cases came in oddly, as a record-high of 1,483 was reported on Monday and the lowest figure since April 20 of 495 was reported on Sunday.
The state’s pandemic epicenter in Fairfax County reported another 537 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend. Fairfax is now approaching 10,000 cases of the coronavirus, as the spread around the greater Washington, D.C. area and its suburbs continues to grow.
Virginia has also seen a noticeable growth in cases in two areas — Accomack and Culpeper counties. Culpeper had 264 known cases of COVID-19 on May 10, according to VDH. Fifteen days later, Culpeper has grown to 614 reported cases, with a total of 46 hospitalized and five deaths. Accomack has seen hundreds of new cases during the same time frame and currently has 731 total cases, with 41 hospitalized and 11 deaths.
In term of total cases of COVID-19, here’s a look at Virginia’s top 10 “hot spots” (hospitalizations – deaths):
• 9,482 — Fairfax County (1,218-331)
- 4,702 — Prince William County (423-94)
- 2,047 — Loudoun County (150-52)
- 1,897 — Arlington County (368-101)
- 1,754 — Alexandria (175-38)
- 1,492 — Henrico County (177-118)
- 1,200 — Chesterfield County (74-30)
- 1,040 — City of Richmond (134-20)
- 731 — Accomack County (41-11)
- 618 — Virginia Beach (90-20)
The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported today that 1,376 people are currently hospitalized that have either been confirmed to have COVID-19 or are awaiting test results. That figure is up 25 from yesterday and halts a four-day decline, but it still represents a more than 10-percent decrease from mid-May.
Among those hospitalized, 349 are in intensive care (down 5 from yesterday) and 182 are on ventilators (down 31 since Friday).
Since the pandemic began, VHHA also reports that 5,145 people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 and were hospitalized, have been discharged.
VDH reported another 49 deaths in Virginia related to the pandemic over the weekend. That brings the state’s death toll to 1,208 fatalities since the first COVID-19 death was reported in the Commonwealth on March 14.
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