By Randy Arrington
LURAY, May 3 — After a slight uptick in recent weeks, COVID-19 data in Page County has generally trended downward over the past week. New cases fell by a third compared to the previous week, while the positivity rate declined nearly 40 percent over the last five days.
The Virginia Department of Health reported 22 new cases of coronavirus in Page County over the past week, with 15 of those being reported since Friday. The previous week saw 33 cases. The county has reported only one new hospitalization in the past seven days and has not recorded a COVID-related death since March 17.
Page County’s seven-day positivity rate currently stands at 6.6 percent, after reaching a recent high of 10.7 percent on Tuesday. The rate remained at 10 percent or above for three straight days to start the week (Monday through Wednesday), but then fell more than four percentage points over the next five days.
According to ZIP code data provided by VDH, the past week’s new cases surfaced in the following areas:
• 10 cases — Shenandoah area (22849);
• 9 cases — Luray area (22835);
• 4 cases — Stanley area (22851).
A total of 611 COVID-19 vaccinations were administered in Page County over the past week, with the number of residents receiving at least one dose growing by 226 and the number of fully vaccinated residents increasing 401. As of Monday’s report by VDH, a cumulative total of 13,218 vaccinations have been given locally, with 7,598 people receiving at least one dose (about 31.7 percent of the population) and 6,110 have been fully vaccinated (about 25.5 percent).
On Monday, the Lord Fairfax Health District reported fewer than 20 new cases of COVID-19 for the first time since Oct. 7. The health district saw only 13 new cases reported on Monday, with four in Page County. Over the past week, the district reported 19 hospitalizations and five deaths related to the virus. Frederick County reported three of the fatalities, bringing their pandemic death toll up to 100. Winchester reported two of the deaths for a total of 45.
Virginia’s seven-day positivity rate has now dropped below 5 percent for the first time in six months and currently stands at 4.6 percent. That’s nearly a full-point drop from last Monday’s 5.4 percent.
The commonwealth’s daily case count has remained below 1,000 for three straight days. That hadn’t happened since late September. The state only reported 24 new hospitalizations related to the pandemic on Monday, and total statewide hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are at the lowest point since early July (822).
Virginia reported 101 deaths related to the virus over the last week and a total of 10,807 in the past 14 months.
Across the state, nearly 6.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, with more than 3.8 million receiving at least one dose (45.1 percent of the statewide population) and more than 2.7 million fully vaccinated (32 percent). Currently, Virginia is averaging 69,526 doses of the vaccine being administered each day — a slight decline from last Monday’s 74,315.
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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