By Randy Arrington
LURAY, June 12 — Shenandoah County reached the highest pandemic death toll in the Lord Fairfax Health District on Wednesday when its 25th fatality was reported.
Two days later, the Virginia Department of Health reported the 26th COVID-19 death in Shenandoah County. Those two deaths followed two others reported on Monday.
Recent outbreaks at longterm care facilities in both Woodstock and New Market have driven a rise in new cases, according to reports in the Northern Virginia Daily. However, it has not been confirmed that the four recent COVID-19 fatalities reported by the state are connected to these facilities.
Since Monday, there have been 25 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Shenandoah County. During that time, VDH has reported five hospitalizations and four deaths in the county.
Shenandoah County leads the health district in all major categories with 505 total reported cases, 51 hospitalizations and 26 deaths. The majority of new COVID-19 cases being reported within the health district are in Frederick and Shenandoah counties. Frederick County has seen 14 new cases since Monday, while the county seat in Winchester has reported 28.
A breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 1,703 total cases of COVID-19 is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):
- 505 — Shenandoah County (51-26)
- 423 — Frederick County (28-4)
- 260 — City of Winchester (16-3)
- 250 — Page County (27-24)
- 228 — Warren County (14-4)
- 37 — Clarke County (3-0)
Page County had one new case of COVID-19 reported on Friday. That followed two cases on Thursday. Four of the last five days, Page has seen its cumulative total only grow by a single case. One new hospitalization was reported in Page on Thursday.
Below is the ZIP code breakdown for cases and testing within Page County as of June 12:
- 22835 (Luray) — 151 cases, 502 tests, 30.1% positivity rate;
- 22851 (Stanley) — 66 cases, 181 tests, 36.5% positivity rate;
- 22849 (Shenandoah) — 29 cases, 199 tests, 14.6% positivity rate.
The 22650 (Rileyville) ZIP code data has once again been suppressed by VDH because of the low number of cases and the size of the community. The state takes precautions to protect patients’ privacy by suppressing certain data. The last report made public for the 22650 ZIP code showed five cases of COVID-19, with 14 tests administered.
Harrisonburg reported four new cases on Friday, while Rockingham County had eight. While new cases continue to be reported across the Massanutten Mountain, the daily increases have remained in the single digits. Three hospitalizations and no deaths were reported over the last two days.
Statewide, 564 new cases of the coronavirus were reported on Friday. That represents a third day of increasing new cases; however, it’s much lower than May’s daily average of more than 800 new cases per day. As mass testing continues, Virginia recently dropped below its positivity rate goal of 10 percent. The Commonwealth is currently getting positive results for COVID-19 from around 8.5 percent of those tested. In April, the statewide positivity rate was nearly three times higher.
New hospitalizations in Virginia rose by 85 on Friday, according to VDH. Yet, the total number of current COVID-19 patients hospitalized continues to fall, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.
VHHA reported today that 1,026 people are currently hospitalized that have either been confirmed to have COVID-19 or are awaiting test results. That figure is down 43 from yesterday.
Among those hospitalized, 297 are in intensive care, about the same as two days ago; and 143 are on ventilators, up five from yesterday.
Since the pandemic began, VHHA also reports that 7,002 people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 and were hospitalized, have been discharged.
VDH reported 14 new deaths related to the pandemic on Friday, bringing the total in Virginia to 1,534. Three of the last five days saw daily death tolls remain in the single digits.
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