By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Oct 4 — Page County reported new cases in the triple digits for a fifth consecutive week, although the case count has declined slightly over the past two weeks. The county also reported five hospitalizations from the virus in the last seven days, as well as its 66th and 67th fatalities from the pandemic.
The Virginia Department of Health reported 141 cases of COVID-19 in Page over the past week, including 47 cases just over the weekend. That represents a seven-day average of just over 20 new cases per day. However, this week’s total marks a decline from 153 cases the previous week and 174 the week before that.
According to zip code data provided by the VDH, the new cases surfacing over the last seven days were distributed throughout the county as follows:
• 60 cases — Luray area (22835);
• 43 cases — Stanley area (22851);
• 25 cases — Shenandoah area (22849);
• 4 cases — Rileyville area (22650).
Page County’s positivity rate for the past week (usually updated each Monday on the VDH site ) was not available earlier today. On Sept. 27, the county’s positivity rate was 22.6 percent. That marked the highest positivity rate Page has posted since Dec. 31 (22.5 percent).
Both of Page County’s COVID fatalities this past week were reported on Friday. After seeing no COVID-related deaths in August, Page has reported six deaths in September.
Page County Public Schools has reported 162 cases of COVID-19 within its buildings since opening on Aug. 23. Of those cases, 39 are still active with 33 cases among students and three among staff.
Since reporting its first case of COVID-19 on March 31, 2020, Page County has reported a total of 3,117 cases, 158 related hospitalizations and 67 fatalities.
The Lord Fairfax Health District has reported 979 new cases of COVID-19 over the last week — down slightly from 1,060 cases the previous week. Below is a breakdown of new cases reported since Sept. 27 within the health district:
• 360 — Frederick County
• 217 — Shenandoah County
• 167 — Warren County
• 141 — Page County
• 52 — City of Winchester
• 42 — Clarke County
The health district reported 25 hospitalizations related to COVID for the third straight week, and 14 related deaths (compared to 19 last week) — five reported in Warren County, four in Shenandoah County, two in both Frederick and Page counties, and one in Winchester.
Over the past week, Virginia has averaged 2,748 new cases of COVID-19 per day — down from 3,102 the previous week. Statewide hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have fallen to 1,832 — down from 2,068 last Monday. Currently, 479 patients are in intensive care being treated for COVID, with 295 on ventilators.
Virginia’s seven-day positivity rate is currently 8.5 percent — the lowest rate since Aug. 17 and down from last Monday’s 9.2 percent.
Virginia reported 316 deaths related to COVID-19 over the past week — an average of 45 per day and up from the previous week’s 280 reported deaths. The commonwealth has reported a total of 12,908 deaths from COVID-19 since March 14, 2020.
A total of 162 COVID-19 vaccinations were administered in Page County over the past week — down from 261 the previous week. As of Monday’s report by VDH, a cumulative total of 19,794 vaccinations have been given locally, with 10,852 people in the county receiving at least one dose and 9,803 fully vaccinated (or 41 percent of the population).
Statewide, Virginia has administered nearly 10.6 million doses of vaccine, with 5.8 million receiving at least one dose and more than 5.2 million individuals, or 72 percent of the adult population, being fully vaccinated.
The Virginia Department of Health reports that between Jan. 17, 2021 and Sept. 18, 2021, unvaccinated people developed COVID-19 at a rate of 7.4 times that of fully vaccinated people, and 2.4 times that of partially vaccinated people.
The data to support that statement relating to breakthrough cases stretches from Jan. 17 to Sept. 18 among 5 million fully vaccinated Virginians as follows:
• 0.5% — developed COVID (26,926)
• 0.021% — hospitalized due to COVID (1,053)
• 0.0054% — died from COVID (273)
Unvaccinated individuals and those who are not fully vaccinated should continue wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces in accordance with federal CDC guidance.
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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