By Randy Arrington
LURAY, March 29 — Over the past week, Page County has reported 24 new cases of COVID-19, with 21 of those cases coming over a three-day period. However, the county’s seven-day positivity rate reached its lowest point in five months, as only one hospitalization and no deaths have been reported in Page since March 17.
The Virginia Department of Health reported seven new cases of the virus in Page County on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That marks the county’s largest three-day surge in nearly six weeks. However, the only COVID-related hospitalization reported in the county in nearly two weeks came on Monday. The county saw no new cases of the virus reported on Monday — marking only the third time that has happened in March.
As of Monday, Page County’s current seven-day positivity rate stands at 3.1 percent. That’s slightly up from 2.6 percent reported on Saturday, which marked the lowest positivity rate in the county since early November.
Page County increased its number of fully vaccinated residents by 389 this past week, well surpassing the 88 achieved the previous week. A total of 4,039 people in Page have now been fully vaccinated — nearly 17 percent of the population — while 5,426 have received at least one dose (more than 22 percent). A total of 9,099 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Page County residents.
Statewide, nearly 1.3 million in Virginia have been fully vaccinated as of Monday representing about 15 percent of the population, while nearly 2.4 million have received at least one dose (about 28.1 percent). Virginia has administered a total of nearly 3.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and is currently averaging 59,538 per day.
The Lord Fairfax Health District has seen 50 or more cases of the virus reported on five of the last seven days, but had only 29 on Monday and a high of 64 on Saturday. Over the past week, the health district surpassed 19,000 cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago. In total, the district has reported:
• 19,073 cases of COVID-19;
• 732 related hospitalizations;
• 390 related deaths.
Of those, Page County has reported 1,905 cases of the virus (5th highest among six jurisdictions in the health district), 104 hospitalizations (3rd highest) and 57 deaths (3rd highest).
Only one COVID-related death was reported within the health district over the past week, as Warren County saw its 52nd pandemic fatality reported on Sunday.
Virginia averaged about 1,500 new cases per day over the past week, while current statewide hospitalizations hover around 1,000, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. Virginia’s seven-day positivity rate has been steady over the last three weeks and is currently 5.8 percent.
New cases and hospitalizations declined steadily from late January through February, but that decline began to slow down and level off throughout the month of March. While some declines are still being seen, some slight increases are occurring as well — such as 65 COVID-related deaths reported in Virginia in the last three days. The death toll had dropped to single digits the three days prior.
Since the pandemic hit just over a year ago, Virginia has seen:
• 616,509 reported cases of COVID-19;
• 26,280 related hospitalizations;
• 10,219 related deaths.
Since the first COVID-19 death was reported in Virginia on March 14, 2020, the Commonwealth has seen an average of nearly 27 deaths per day due to the novel coronavirus.
The Lord Fairfax Health District announced on March 19 that it is expanding vaccination registration to include all people who fall into Virginia’s Phase 1c including other essential workers in energy, water, wastewater and waste removal, housing and construction, food service, transportation and logistics, institutions of higher learning, finance, information technology and communications, media, legal services, public safety and public health. All phases are identified in detail at www.vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine/.
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.
Valley Health is administering COVID-19 vaccinations at four clinics — Winchester, Front Royal, Woodstock and Luray. To register, visit www.valleyhealthlink.com/c19vaccinations.
•••
RELATED ARTICLES
Governor announces limited capacity increases for indoor and outdoor gatherings
Little change in local COVID data, new cases continue as vaccinations increase slowly
Lord Fairfax Health District moves to Phase 1C for COVID-19 vaccinations
Page County lowers positivity rate to 3.6% with 3,600 residents fully vaccinated
Be the first to comment