By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Jan. 20 — Since Monday, the Virginia Department of Health has reported 43 new cases of COVID-19 in Page County, along with two new hospitalizations and two fatalities related to the ongoing pandemic.
Page only saw 15 new cases of the virus reported on Wednesday, down from an average of 29 cases per day over the previous four days. From Saturday to Wednesday, there were a total of 131 new cases of the virus reported in the county.
Page County’s seven-day positivity rate rose four-tenths of a percent on Wednesday to 18.5 percent, after dropping to a recent low of 18.1 percent on Tuesday, according to Daily Locality Metrics data provided on the VDH website. That was the first time the county’s seven-day positivity rate had fallen below 19 percent since Dec. 21.
Page’s 14-day positivity rate remains unchanged from Tuesday at 19.6 percent, according to CDC School Metrics provided by VDH.
According to ZIP code data provided by VDH, the new cases of COVID-19 reported over the last two days in Page County surfaced in the following areas (ZIP code data totals do not always match the county’s daily reports – see details on the VDH ZIP code page link above):
• 21 cases — Luray area (22835);
• 11 cases — Stanley area (22851);
• 9 cases — Shenandoah area (22849);
• 1 case — Rilleyville area (22650).
Over the last two days, Page County leads the Lord Fairfax Health District in hospitalizations, deaths and positivity rate. While Frederick County, Winchester and Shenandoah County have each reported one hospitalization and one death since Monday — Page County has reported two of each, with a hospitalization accompanying the county’s 37th death on Tuesday and its 38th fatality reported on Wednesday. Four of the health district’s five COVID-related deaths since Monday were reported on Wednesday.
Page County has now reported more deaths from COVID-19 than Clarke County, Warren County and the City of Winchester, and is only one behind Frederick County (which has nearly four times as many cases). Page is tied for third among the six localities within the health district for both total hospitalizations and deaths, while being fifth for the total number of cases (which falls in line with its standing in terms of population).
The health district reported 168 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. That marked a significant decrease from four straight days of more than 200 cases being reported, including 224 on Tuesday.
A breakdown of new coronavirus cases reported across the district since Monday shows 174 in Frederick County, 72 in Shenandoah County, 49 in Winchester, 43 in Page, 30 in Warren County and 24 in Clarke County.
A cumulative breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 13,763 reported cases, 575 hospitalizations and 224 deaths is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):
- 5,037 — Frederick County (158-39)
- 2,972 — Shenandoah County (155-84)
- 2,041 — City of Winchester (83-20)
- 1,740 — Warren County (73-36)
- 1,420 — Page County (83-38)
- 553 — Clarke County (23-7)
On Wednesday, both Harrisonburg and Rockingham County reported much lower case counts than they have been seeing over the past two weeks, with only four new cases of COVID-19 reported in the city and 24 in the county. Over the last two days, Harrisonburg has reported one hospitalization and three deaths related to the pandemic, while Rockingham has reported one hospitalization and two deaths.
The Virginia Department of Health reported 4,515 new cases of COVID-19 across the state on Wednesday, after reporting 4,526 on Tuesday. Both figures came in well below the three previous days — 6,757 cases reported on Saturday; 9,914 on Sunday; and 7,245 on Monday.
The weekend total of 23,916 new cases of COVID-19 was, by far, the highest three-day count of the entire pandemic in Virginia. However, despite the recent surge in new cases, Virginia’s seven-day positivity rate continued to drop for a 10th-straight day on Wednesday and now sits at 13.5 percent. That’s the lowest the state’s positivity rate has been since Dec. 31.
Statewide hospitalizations for COVID-19 are at 3,098, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association — down 111 from last Wednesday’s record-high of 3,209.
Among those patients, 554 are being treated in intensive care units — down 30 from Monday. Among those, 338 are currently on ventilators — down 16 from Monday.
As of Wednesday morning, 320,593 people in Virginia had been vaccinated with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, among the 943,400 doses (including Moderna and Pfizer vaccines) that have been distributed to facilities and agencies across the state. A total of 39,458 people in Virginia have been fully vaccinated. Currently, an average of 18,740 doses of the vaccine are being administered each day in Virginia.
Here’s a breakdown of vaccine doses administered and those who have been fully vaccinated (two doses) across the Lord Fairfax Health District as of Wednesday’s report:
• 4,890 doses administered, 804 fully vaccinated — City of Winchester;
• 4,047 doses administered, 670 fully vaccinated — Frederick County;
• 3,148 doses administered, 253 fully vaccinated — Shenandoah County;
• 1,745 doses administered, 203 fully vaccinated — Warren County;
• 1,396 doses administered, 90 fully vaccinated — Clarke County;
• 1,033 doses administered, 95 fully vaccinated — Page County.
The state health department reported 63 new deaths related to COVID-19 on Wednesday, after reporting 59 on Tuesday. A total of 5,861 people statewide have died from COVID-19 since March 14 — 1,041 since Christmas.
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