PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia reported its fourth straight day of daily COVID-19 cases under 600 on Thursday with just 470, dramatically lower than recent counts in the previous two weeks and less than half the number reported last Thursday (951).
A possible spike in cases due to recent protests and reopening of parts of Virginia’s economy has yet to appear. Most of Virginia moved into phase 2 on June 5 and protests in Hampton Roads after the death of George Floyd started on May 29.
On Wednesday, Fortune magazine reported Virginia saw the largest decreases in daily new cases from May 26 to June 9 of any state in the country, one of 21 states reporting decreases in cases. 9 states have reported a significant increase in cases during that time, including North Carolina.
The decreases in daily numbers however coincide with a decrease in overall testing compared to the past two weeks.
Virginia did report more than 9,000 new PCR tests Thursday to reach 405,025 total, up from 395,972 on Wednesday, but that includes tests that were conducted before the last 24 hours. Just 4,808 cases from June 10 were shown VDH’s website.
Recent testing numbers show that Virginia really has hardly increased its average tests per day even over the past two weeks. It only saw a bump of about 50 tests per day on average from May 24 to June 7.
Meanwhile North Carolina, which looks much worse on paper as far as daily cases go, now averages about 5,000 more tests per day compared to two weeks ago.
Both states are averaging about 9% positive tests.
It’s unclear how many protesters have gone to get tested, but Gov. Ralph Northam has encouraged protesters to do so, especially if they are symptomatic.
165 cases were in Northern Virginia and 305 were reported in the rest of the state. 64 were in Tidewater.
Cases have dropped 10 out of the last 15 days, with an overall trend that’s plummeted. The state is
Hospitalizations
Overall current COVID-19 hospitalizations numbers fell again to record low numbers on Thursday, with 1,069 hospitalizations, 273 in the ICU and 138 on ventilators. No hospitals were reporting difficulty acquiring PPE on Thursday, but 2 did report difficulty on Wednesday, the first time that’s been reported since May 8. 10 On Your Side reached out to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, which attributed the report to a new facility coming online, “which naturally involves building up an inventory of supplies, among other operational issues.” They called it an isolated event.
6,895 people have now been discharged after being hospitalized with COVID-19, an increase of 69 from Wednesday, VHHA data shows.
Deaths
Just 6 new deaths were reported Thursday, bringing Virginia’s total to 1,520. Deaths have fallen sharply after reached their highest average peak on May 28 two weeks ago.
5 of the 6 deaths were in long-term care facilities in the state, where 858 people have now died in Virginia.
Here are the latest numbers for Tidewater:
Accomack: 984 cases, 55 hospitalized, 13 deaths (no increases)
Chesapeake: 622 cases, 98 hospitalized, 15 deaths (+5 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Franklin: 43 cases, 3 hospitalized, 2 deaths (+1 case)
Gloucester: 34 cases, 8 hospitalized, 1 death (+1 case)
Hampton: 233 cases, 37 hospitalized, 5 deaths (+2 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Isle of Wight: 150 cases, 15 hospitalized, 8 deaths (+1 case, +1 hospitalized)
James City County: 225 cases, 56 hospitalized, 15 deaths (+1 case)
Mathews: 5 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 deaths (no increases)
Newport News: 337 cases, 41 hospitalized, 10 deaths (+9 cases)
Norfolk: 619 cases, 74 hospitalized, 7 deaths (+14 cases)
Northampton: 259 cases 34 hospitalized, 27 deaths (+2 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Poquoson: 10 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 deaths (+1 case)
Portsmouth: 364 cases, 56 hospitalized, 11 deaths (+10 cases, +7 hospitalized)
Southampton: 155 cases, 7 hospitalized, 2 deaths (+1 case)
Suffolk: 333 cases, 52 hospitalized, 33 deaths (+3 cases, +1 death)
Virginia Beach: 832 cases, 107 hospitalized, 27 deaths (+9 cases, +2 hospitalized)
Williamsburg: 49 cases, 11 hospitalized, 5 deaths (+1 case)
York: 89 cases, 10 hospitalized, 3 deaths (+3 cases)
Key takeways:
- 64 new cases with all but two localities reporting case increases (many smaller localities have been mostly reported little to no increases in cases)
- Just 1 new death locally in Suffolk,
- Accomack, which has the most cumulative cases in the area, has now reported no increases in cases in 3 out of the last 4 days. It’s reported 31 cases in the last week.
- Portsmouth saw a spike in VDH classified hospitalizations (7), its most by far (the way VDH reports hospitalizations is different from VHHA current hospitalizations. It’s unclear how many are still hospitalized.)
For more information on each locality and other details on the coronavirus in Virgnia, visit VDH’s website.