By Randy Arrington
LURAY, June 1 — Although it may be a reporting adjustment in COVID-19 data, Page County saw a spike in new cases on Tuesday, along with the first pandemic death reported since St. Patrick’s Day.
The Virginia Department of Health reported 19 new cases of coronavirus in Page County this morning, and a total of 32 cases over the past week. By comparison, all six jurisdictions within the Lord Fairfax Health District only reported 53 new cases of COVID-19 over the last seven days.
However, on Tuesday, Shenandoah County had 21 cases of the virus deducted from its cumulative total. That reduction, despite Page’s 19 new cases, actually lead to a net of zero new cases being added to the district’s total. Therefore, it appears as if those shifts were a result of data adjustments by VDH. ZIP code data provided by VDH, which could be used to cross reference new cases compared to testing totals, has not been updated in three days on the website.
Page saw only one new hospitalization over the past week, while the health district reported eight.
Page County’s seven-day positivity rate currently stands at 4.7 percent, up from 3.4 percent a week ago. The rate hit a weekly high of 5.1 percent on Memorial Day, and a weekly low of 3 percent last Wednesday.
A total of 375 COVID-19 vaccinations were administered in Page County over the past week (down from 544 the previous week), with the number of residents receiving at least one dose growing by 156 (down from 339) and the number of fully vaccinated residents increasing 250 (up from 240). As of Tuesday’s report by VDH, a cumulative total of 15,136 vaccinations have been given locally, with 8,478 people receiving at least one dose (35.5 percent of the population) and 7,255 have been fully vaccinated (30.4 percent).
Here’s a breakdown of percentages of the population that have received vaccinations within the six jurisdictions of the Lord Fairfax Health District:
• 50.6% — with at least one dose, Clarke County (42.3% fully vaccinated);
• 48.5% — with one dose, Winchester (36% fully);
• 42.9% — with one dose, Frederick County (34.2% fully);
• 42.7% — with one dose, Shenandoah County (35% fully);
• 39% — with one dose, Warren County (29.8% fully);
• 35.5% — with one dose, Page County (30.4% fully).
Virginia’s seven-day positivity rate has dropped to 2.7 percent and remained steady compared with 2.8 percent a week ago. The commonwealth’s daily case count was only 59 on Tuesday. Statewide hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are at a total of 446 (down from more than 3,000 at the pandemic’s peak), with 124 COVID patients in ICU and 76 on ventilators.
However, the state still reported 51 deaths related to the virus over the past seven days — down from 108 the previous week — and a total of 11,194 since March 14, 2020.
Virginia has administered more than 8.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with nearly 4.7 million receiving at least one dose (54.9 percent of the statewide population) and nearly 3.8 million fully vaccinated (44.4 percent). Currently, Virginia is averaging 35,548 doses of the vaccine being administered each day — down from 50,111 a week ago.
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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