PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The Tidewater region reported its third straight day of new cases below its 7-day average, just over 350 on Thursday, mirroring Virginia’s trend of recent new cases.
Hospitalizations are trending up overall in Tidewater/Hampton Roads, with the most patients of any region in the state. However cases appear to be trending down slightly as the region’s percent of positive cases dips back down (with the exception of Chesapeake).
Norfolk, which has seen its positivity rate drop from a high of 17% to 11.7%, did report 143 new cases to surpasses 3,000 cumulative cases. That’s its second highest one-day increase in cases. Virginia Beach meanwhile reported 71 new cases, which is relatively low compared to recent increases.
Deaths have stayed relatively low compared to earlier in the pandemic, but have trended back up in recent days. Deaths lag behind both cases and hospitalizations.
Statewide numbers:
- New cases: (+911 88,904 total) — appearing to trend back down
- New deaths (+16, 2,141 total) — Daily reported deaths are trending back up slightly in recent days, but are much lower than earlier in the pandemic. The current 7-day avg. is 12 per day, slightly above the average for most of June when deaths dipped. “Deaths by day of death,” the metric that shows the actual day a COVID-19 patient died, has been mostly trending down (7-day average of 5 per day) and is well below the peak of 37 per day in early May.
- Hospitalizations (+7, 1,357 total) — trending up overall after falling to low of 783 patients on July 6, ICU and ventilator numbers still low, 11,650 patients discharged since start of pandemic
- Testing (7.2% positive tests overall) — Down after going up to 7.9% on July 18, averaging nearly 17,000 tests per day
Overall Virginia is doing relatively well compared to many other states across the country that are seeing major surges in new cases. The U.S. as a whole is now averaging about 1,000 new COVID-19 deaths per day, with the country officially surpassing 150,000 deaths on Wednesday.
However state and federal officials were worried that Virginia’s COVID-19 numbers could increase even further, fueled primarily by a recent surge in cases in Hampton Roads. That led to Gov. Ralph Northam announcing new restrictions for Hampton Roads, including stopping alcohol sales at 10 p.m., closing restaurants at midnight and reducing the limit on gatherings to 50 people. The executive order goes into effect at 12 a.m. Friday.
3 of the 16 new deaths reported Thursday were in Hampton Roads, just above the region’s 7-day average of 2.7 per day.
Hospitalizations remained flat in the region, with a record 554 patients still currently hospitalized. The Eastern District has the highest numbers of hospitalizations in the state.
Here’s the latest count for Hampton Roads and the whole Tidewater region (numbers are cumulative)
Accomack: 1,074 cases, 77 hospitalized, 15 deaths (+2 cases)
Chesapeake: 2,391 cases, 199 hospitalized, 27 deaths (+43 cases)
Franklin: 117 cases, 7 hospitalized, 6 deaths (+2 cases)
Gloucester: 140 cases, 12 hospitalized, 2 deaths (+2 cases)
Hampton: 973 cases, 49 hospitalized, 5 deaths (+10 cases, +1 death)
Isle of Wight: 323 cases, 20 hospitalized, 9 deaths (+5 cases)
James City County: 531 cases, 59 hospitalized, 16 deaths (+6 cases)
Mathews: 12 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 deaths
Newport News: 1,544 cases, 71 hospitalized, 16 deaths (+25 cases, +1 death)
Norfolk: 3,080 cases, 165 hospitalized, 22 deaths (+143 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Northampton: 292 cases, 45 hospitalized, 28 deaths (-5 cases)
Poquoson: 35 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 deaths (+1 case)
Portsmouth: 1,417 cases, 122 hospitalized, 22 deaths (+27 cases +8 hospitalized, +1 death)
Southampton: 229 cases, 12 hospitalized, 12 deaths
Suffolk: 1,001 cases, 91 hospitalized, 48 deaths (+12 cases)
Virginia Beach: 3,979 cases, 193 hospitalized, 43 deaths (+71 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Williamsburg: 106 cases, 12 hospitalized, 6 deaths (+1 case)
York: 293 cases, 14 hospitalized, 3 deaths (+3 cases)
Key local metrics:
- 353 new cases overall (351 in Hampton Roads — excluding Eastern Shore)
- 10 new VDH reported hospitalizations
- No new Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association hospitalizations (current hospitalizations)
- 3 new deaths
- 7-day percent of positive tests (11.4%) — trending down overall
7-day positivity rates
Chesapeake – 14.3% — overall trending up
Eastern Shore – 5.7% — Steady and low overall (low overall testing)
Hampton – 8.9% — trending down after increased testing
Norfolk – 11.7% — trending down from high of 17% reported on July 12
Peninsula — 6.5% — trending down after going up to 11.5% on July 17
Portsmouth — 17.4 % — trending down slightly, still high
Virginia Beach — 11% — trending back down overall after going up to 12.1% on July 16
Western Tidewater — 10.3% — trending up overall
For more information from the Virginia Department of Health, click here.