By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Sept. 13 — It was one of the roughest weeks in many months for Page County, as the last six days have produced 133 new cases of COVID-19, along with 10 hospitalizations and one death — the county’s 62nd of the pandemic.
Page County’s positivity rate has jumped to 17.1 percent, after sitting at 13 percent a week ago. On July 12, the rate stood at just 1.9 percent.
The last two weeks have produced more than 100 cases a week, and currently Page County is averaging just over 22 new cases per day. The county reported 64 new cases just over the weekend, including four hospitalizations. The one COVID death was reported on Friday — the county’s first pandemic-related fatality reported since July 30.
According to zip code data provided by the VDH, the new cases surfacing over the last six days were distributed throughout the county as follows:
• 71 cases — Luray area (22835);
• 28 cases — Stanley area (22851);
• 23 cases — Shenandoah area (22849);
• 9 cases — Rileyville area (22650).
Since reporting its first case of COVID-19 on March 31, 2020, Page County has reported 2,649 cases, 144 related hospitalizations and 62 fatalities.
The Lord Fairfax Health District has reported 965 new cases of COVID-19 over the last six days — steady from the 969 cases reported the previous week. Below is a breakdown of new cases reported since Sept. 7 and each locality’s current positivity rate within the health district:
• 332 — Frederick County — 9.1%
• 199 — Warren County — 16%
• 176 — Shenandoah County — 17.4%
• 133 — Page County — 17.1%
• 85 — City of Winchester — 7.1%
• 40 — Clarke County — 9.7%
The health district reported 22 hospitalizations related to COVID over the past week (26 the previous week), and six related deaths — one reported on Thursday in Clarke County, two reported Friday (Page County and Winchester), and three reported over the weekend in Frederick County.
Over the past week, Virginia has averaged 3,453 new cases of COVID-19 per day — up from 3,212 the previous week. Statewide hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have risen to 2,103 — a 104-percent increase over the past 30 days. Currently, 538 patients are in intensive care being treated for COVID, with 333 on ventilators.
Virginia’s seven-day positivity rate is currently 10.9 percent, up nearly a full point over the last five days.
Virginia reported 160 deaths related to COVID-19 over the past week — up from 137 deaths the previous week. The commonwealth has reported a total of 12,089 deaths from COVID-19 since March 14, 2020.
Despite the high rate of transmission in Page County, vaccination figures have been declining over the past two weeks. A total of 221 COVID-19 vaccinations were administered in Page County over the past week — down from 252 the previous week and 362 the week before that. The number of local residents receiving at least one dose climbed by 124 in the last seven days (134 the previous week and 215 the week prior), and the number of fully vaccinated residents increased by 108 (down from 135 the previous week and 182 the week prior).
As of Monday’s report by VDH, a cumulative total of 19,019 vaccinations have been given locally, with 10,427 people in the county receiving at least one dose (43.6 percent of the population and 52.2 percent of adults) and 9,422 fully vaccinated (39.4 percent of the population and 47.3 percent of adults).
Statewide, Virginia has administered nearly 10.2 million doses of vaccine, with nearly 5.6 million receiving at least one dose and nearly 5 million individuals, or 69 percent of the adult population, being fully vaccinated.
The Virginia Department of Health reports that between Jan. 17, 2021 and Sept. 4, 2021, unvaccinated people developed COVID-19 at a rate of 8.5 times that of fully vaccinated people, and 2.4 times that of partially vaccinated people.
The data to support that statement stretches from January to Labor Day weekend among nearly 5 million fully vaccinated Virginians as follows:
• 0.4% — developed COVID (20,134)
• 0.017% — hospitalized due to COVID (827)
• 0.0038% — died from COVID (184)
As a point of reference, during that same time period — Jan. 17, 2021 through Sept. 4, 2021 — Virginia reported 338,862 cases of COVID-19, along with 14,113 hospitalizations and 6,170 deaths.
Unvaccinated individuals and those who are not fully vaccinated should continue wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces in accordance with federal CDC guidance.
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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