By Randy Arrington
LURAY, June 22 — The Virginia Department of Health reported 29 new cases of COVID-19 in Warren County over the weekend. The City of Winchester had the next highest tally within the Lord Fairfax Health District with 13 new cases. Frederick County had 11.
The spike in new cases in Warren County doesn’t appear to be connected to the outbreak in recent weeks at the Rappahannock-Shenandoah-Warren Regional Jail just north of Front Royal. On June 15, RSW reported on its website that, “We have no active cases of COVID-19 in inmates or staff.”
After discovering the coronavirus in the regional jail in late May, the National Guard assisted health officials in conducting a point prevalence test of all inmates and staff on May 29. Among the 428 tests administered at the jail, initial results showed that 62 inmates and four staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
Prior to Sunday’s report of 18 new cases in Warren County — followed by 11 on Monday — no jurisdiction within the health district had reported a double-digit increase in new cases for nine days. Over the past week, new cases had remained low in the district, but a clear uptick in new cases was seen in several areas in the district in the last two days.
Clarke and Page counties were the exception in the district, with both only reporting two new cases over the weekend. ZIP code data shows the two cases in Page showed up in Luray and Stanley. The six jurisdictions within the Lord Fairfax Health District reported a total of 63 new cases in the last two days.
However, despite Warren County’s 29 new cases, there were no new hospitalizations in the county. In fact, among the 63 new cases of COVID-19 within the health district, only three new hospitalizations have been reported in the last two days — two in Shenandoah County and one in Frederick County.
There has not been a pandemic-related death within the health district for the last six days.
A breakdown by jurisdiction of the health district’s 1,868 cases of COVID-19 is as follows (hospitalizations – deaths):
- 542 — Shenandoah County (56-27)
- 460 — Frederick County (33-4)
- 292 — City of Winchester (21-3)
- 265 — Warren County (16-4)
- 263 — Page County (28-24)
- 46 — Clarke County (4-0)
Harrisonburg saw eight new cases of the coronavirus surface over the weekend, while Rockingham County reported six. While both only reported one new hospitalization, Rockingham reported two new deaths, bringing their total to nine pandemic fatalities.
Statewide, 551 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Sunday, followed 471 new cases on Monday. These figures represent a two-day decline.
The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported Monday that 848 people are currently hospitalized that have either been confirmed to have COVID-19 or are awaiting test results. That figure has remained below 1,000 for the last 10 days after spending two months above that mark.
Among those hospitalized, 240 are in intensive care, according to VHHA — down 27 over the past two days. Currently, there are 132 patients statewide on ventilators — that figure is up seven since yesterday.
Since the pandemic began, VHHA also reports that 7,663 people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 and were hospitalized, have been discharged.
VDH reported 13 deaths over the weekend in Virginia related to the pandemic, bringing the total number of statewide COVID-19 deaths since March 14 to 1,620.
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