PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia saw hospitalizations due to COVID-19 rise by 66 in a day as the commonwealth’s total confirmed cases near the 3,000 mark.
Virginia now has 2,878 cases, with 497 hospitalizations and 54 deaths due to the coronavirus as of Monday, April 6, the Virginia Department of Health reports. However keep in mind that health officials say these confirmed numbers are likely significantly lower than Virginia’s actual numbers, due to widespread lack of testing.
Only 24,521 out of more than 8.5 million Virginians have been tested so far.
The most striking change from Sunday to Monday is the increase of 66 hospitalizations. It’s the largest jump in a day so far, as Virginia’s hospitals plead for more personal protective equipment and other supplies to care for the increase in patients.
This all comes on the front end of the case curve. Governor Ralph Northam said Virginia isn’t expecting to see the peak of cases in Virginia until late April to late May.
The number of deaths linked to the disease increased by 3 from Sunday, from 51 to 54. Cases in total rose from 2,637 to 2,878 — an increase of 241. That’s lower than recent daily increases, including a increase of nearly 400 from Friday to Saturday, but cases are expected to trend upward until that late April/late May peak.
For reference, last Monday, March 30, COVID-19 cases in Virginia were 1,020 overall, with 25 deaths and 136 hospitalizations.
Here are the latest numbers in our area:
Chesapeake: 77
Accomack: 11
Northampton: 2
Hampton: 41
Norfolk: 60
James City County: 118
Newport News: 54
Poquoson: 3
Williamsburg: 13
York: 21
Portsmouth: 27
Gloucester: 12
Mathews: 2
Virginia Beach: 178
Franklin: 4
Isle of Wight: 22
Southampton: 5
Suffolk: 28
The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association released a new data dashboard on April 6. It details important information on the state of the commonwealth’s hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.
It shows up-to-date stats on those currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, hospital bed and ventilator capacity statewide, and how many hospitals are having trouble obtaining crucial personal protective equipment for medical workers.
The VHHA’s data on hospitalization is different than what is published by VDH. While VDH is only reporting 497 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Virginia, VHHA is reporting 538 hospitalizations as of Monday.
Virginia’s State Health Commissioner Dr. M. Norman Oliver addressed the difference in hospitalization data between the VDH and the VHHA on April 6.
Oliver said that VDH data on hospitalizations “lags behind” the data provided every day by VHHA. VDH obtains hospitalization data from Virginia Health and Information. The data VDH reports is a reflection of discharge information that is part of hospital claims collected by VHI.
VHHA’s data shows the “current census” of COVID-19 patients who are in hospitals on a daily basis, Oliver said.
View the complete VHHA data set here.
