PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia is now reporting nearly 9,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 300 total deaths related to the disease.
As of Monday, April 20, Virginia has 8,990 confirmed cases, per Virginia Department of Health data, though that number under-represents the state’s actual count due to lack of testing (roughly 2,000 tests a day) and lags in test results.
Only 56,735 of more than 8.5 million Virginians (less than 1%) have been tested, and testing is limited to those who meet certain criteria — such as those with symptoms and underlying health conditions, those with symptoms who live in congregate settings, health care workers/first responders, etc.
The commonwealth has averaged about 463 cases per day in the last 7 days, with a record spike of 602 cases on April 17, though its chart of new daily cases dipped again on Monday, its third straight day of decreasing cases. Daily reported cases must trend downward for 14 days before any phased “reopening” of states/regions can take place, per guidelines from the White House.
Here’s a map of Virginia’s curve created by the non-profit Virginia Public Access Project.
Here are the latest numbers in our area (and numbers from last Monday, April 13)
Virginia Beach: 281 (251)
Chesapeake: 166 (126)
James City County: 141 (126)
Norfolk: 105 (99)
Newport News: 102 (88)
Suffolk: 92 (51)
Isle of Wight: 86 (33)
Hampton: 70 (72)
Portsmouth: 65 (54)
Accomack: 52 (15)
York: 44 (33)
Gloucester: 21 (20)
Williamsburg: 19 (20)
Southampton: 17 (5)
Franklin: 12 (7)
Northampton: 7 (4)
Poquoson: 6 (6)
Mathews: 3 (3)
*These numbers are cumulative. Virginia health officials say numbers for localities can go down because the person actually lives in another locality, and the case is assigned to that location instead.
Cases in Accomack County and Isle of Wight County have roughly tripled, with cases in Suffolk nearly doubling since last Monday. Isle of Wight ranks 7th in the commonwealth for cases per 100,00 people at 231.75 per 100K.
COVID-19 deaths statewide, at 300 on April 20, have doubled since last Monday, April 13. The highest numbers in the WAVY viewing area are in the Peninsula Health District (20), which had a high number of deaths at the beginning of the outbreak.
270 of the 300 patients (90%) that have died were above the age of 60, VDH data shows, and Virginia health officials say many who’ve died also had some form of underlying condition.
Virginia’s number of current hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 has remained steady in recent weeks, per the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, with 828 hospitalized on April 20. 468 were also hospitalized with cases pending. 396 were in ICUs with 237 on ventilators.
1,324 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital so far.
There are more than 756,374 cases overall in the United States as of April 20. Of those, 40,698 have died.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the number of COVID-19-related deaths on the Eastern Shore, citing Virginia Public Access Project data. The Virginia Department of Health confirmed there has only been 1 death linked to COVID-19 on the Eastern Shore so far.