By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Jan. 8 — The Virginia Department of Health has reported 203 new cases of COVID-19 in Page County since Christmas. That represents 17.2 percent of all 1,182 cases of the virus reported in the county since March 31.
During the past two weeks, Page County has also reported five hospitalizations due to the coronavirus and one death, the county’s 34th of the pandemic.
On Friday, the state health department reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 in Page County, following 10 cases reported on Thursday. The county’s seven-day positivity rate climbed back to 22.3 percent on Friday, a 2.5-percent increase from just yesterday, according to Daily Locality Metrics data provided on the VDH website.
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 (total case count on ZIP code report may not always match county’s daily report):
• 10 cases — Luray area (22835);
• 10 cases — Stanley area (22851);
• 5 cases — Shenandoah area (22849).
The Lord Fairfax Health District reported 129 cases of COVID-19 on Friday and 184 on Thursday. The two-day total of 313 cases breaks down as follows — Frederick County reported 144, Shenandoah County 58, Winchester 49, Page County 28, Warren County 20 and Clarke County 14.
The health district has reported five hospitalizations over the past two days — one in every locality except Clarke County. Shenandoah County was the only one in the district to see a COVID-related death, as the county reported its 75th pandemic fatality on Thursday.
A cumulative breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 11,703 reported cases, 543 hospitalizations and 198 deaths is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):
- 4,247 — Frederick County (150-33)
- 2,519 — Shenandoah County (147-75)
- 1,790 — City of Winchester (78-16)
- 1,528 — Warren County (70-35)
- 1,182 — Page County (77-34)
- 437 — Clarke County (21-5)
After reporting only 37 combined cases on Thursday, Harrisonburg and Rockingham County jumped to 41 and 66 new cases, respectively, on Friday. Harrisonburg reported one new hospitalization, but neither reported a death related to the virus.
Statewide, 5,238 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Friday, marking only the sixth time the state has surpassed 5,000 new cases in a single day. New cases, hospitalizations and deaths were all slightly down on Friday compared to previous day, but all categories still remain high.
Virginia’s seven-day positivity rate has remained steady over the last three days and currently stands at 16.7 percent.
With 282 new hospitalizations reported in the last two days, statewide hospitalizations for COVID-19 reached a record-high 3,000 on Thursday, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. That figure fell slightly to 2,991 on Friday.
Among those patients, 547 are being treated in intensive care units — down 21 from Thursday’s record-high of 568. Among those, 351 are currently on ventilators — down 15 from yesterday’s record-high of 366.
Across Virginia, 36 percent of all ventilators are in use, and the state’s ICU bed occupancy is currently 82 percent.
As of Friday morning, 148,909 people in Virginia had been vaccinated with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, among the 481,550 doses (including Moderna and Pfizer vaccines) that have been distributed to facilities and agencies across the state. A total of 6,848 people in Virginia have been fully vaccinated.
The state health department reported 37 deaths related to the pandemic on Friday, after reporting 49 on Thursday. A total of 492 COVID-related deaths have been reported since Christmas. Virginia surpassed the 5,000-death mark on New Year’s Eve, after surpassing 4,000 the day before Thanksgiving. A total of 5,312 people in Virginia have died from COVID-19 since March 14.
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