By Randy Arrington
LURAY, July 22 — While the Lord Fairfax Health District only reported one new hospitalization from COVID-19 over the past two days, Shenandoah County reported two new fatalities related to the pandemic on Tuesday.
The Virginia Department of Health reported a total of 26 new cases of the coronavirus within the health district on Wednesday morning, after only showing five on Tuesday. Frederick County saw the most new cases, with 10 reported on Wednesday.
Page County had the health district’s second-highest number of new cases with seven — all reported Wednesday. It’s the highest one-day tally since a week ago when Page reported seven new cases of COVID-19 on July 15. Prior to that, the county had not seen that many cases in a single day since June 7, when Page once again reported seven new cases.
Page has not seen a new hospitalization related to the coronavirus in six days, and no new deaths since June 2. The county’s seven new cases were found among 32 tests administered countywide on Tuesday, resulting in a one-day positivity rate of 21.9 percent. However, health officials warn that a one-day positivity rate is not a true indicator of the infection rate across a community.
In addition to the 10 new cases in Frederick and seven in Page, Warren County saw six new cases of COVID-19 — all reported on Wednesday. Shenandoah County saw five new cases in two days, with four reported on Tuesday. That same day Shenandoah reported two new fatalities, bringing the county’s pandemic death toll to 40. Frederick County reported the district’s only hospitalization in the past two days on Tuesday.
A cumulative breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 2,370 reported cases of COVID-19, 205 hospitalizations and 82 deaths is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):
- 655 — Shenandoah County (71-40)
- 607 — Frederick County (46-7)
- 380 — City of Winchester (27-4)
- 340 — Warren County (22-8)
- 324 — Page County (32-23)
- 64 — Clarke County (7-0)
The City of Harrisonburg saw four new cases of COVID-19 reported in the last two days, with one new hospitalization and no deaths. Rockingham County reported seven new cases in two days, with no hospitalizations or deaths.
Statewide, 1,022 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday. New cases in Virginia have been climbing the last three days and have shown a significant increase since July 10. The current seven-day average for new cases is 981. For most of June, the daily increase was about half of that.
The state’s positivity rate has climbed to 7.7 percent after dipping just below 6 percent about two weeks ago — and new hospitalizations are on the rise as well. Here are the numbers of new COVID-19 patients in Virginia hospitals reported over the past four days:
- 18 — Sunday, July 19
- 36 — Monday, July 20
- 66 — Tuesday, July 21
- 84 — Wednesday, July 22
However, with many patients being treated and released, the cumulative number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has remained somewhat steady over the past seven days.
The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported Wednesday that 1,157 people are currently hospitalized that have either been confirmed to have COVID-19 or are awaiting test results. That figure is down 32 since yesterday, after increasing by 31 on Tuesday — and it remains above 1,000 for the 13th consecutive day. Prior to the recent trend, it was June 12 the last time the number of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 exceeded 1,000 in Virginia.
Among those hospitalized, 253 are in intensive care, according to VHHA — down 12 since Monday. Currently, there are 136 COVID-19 patients statewide on ventilators — up 11 since Monday.
Since the pandemic began, VHHA also reports that 10,331 people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 and were hospitalized, have been discharged.
VDH reported a recent high of 17 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia on Tuesday. That’s the highest one-day total in 12 days. Despite the spike, statewide pandemic deaths have remained in the single digits for eight of the last 12 days. Virginia’s pandemic death toll has reached 2,051 since March 14.
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