PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) daily update with the latest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the commonwealth shows the number of cases has surpassed 10,000.
The VDH COVID-19 page shows, as of April 22, there are 10,266 cases in the state — that includes 9,952 confirmed positive and 314 probable positive cases. It’s a jump of 636 cases compared to Tuesday.
The health department also reports 349 deaths from COVID-19, compared to 324 reported Tuesday.
More than 60,000 people in the state have been tested for the disease.
On Tuesday, VDH changed its reporting data and began providing additional information.
- Cases, hospitalizations, and fatalities at the locality level
- Cases, hospitalizations, and fatalities by demographics at the district level
- Ability to differentiate between confirmed and probable cases
- Rates per 100,000 population
Here are the local numbers:
- Chesapeake: 180 cases, 39 hospitalized, 5 deaths
- Gloucester: 21 cases, 4 hospitalized, 1 death
- Hampton: 97 cases, 26 hospitalized, 1 death
- Isle of Wight: 90 cases, 8 hospitalized, 2 deaths
- James City County: 147 cases, 51 hospitalized, 12 deaths
- Newport News: 101 cases, 32 hospitalized, 6 deaths
- Norfolk: 126 cases, 29 hospitalized, 3 deaths
- Poquoson: 6 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 deaths
- Portsmouth: 93 cases, 30 hospitalized, 4 deaths
- Suffolk: 126 cases, 28 hospitalized, 3 deaths
- Virginia Beach: 315 cases, 60 hospitalized, 8 deaths
- York: 43 cases, 6 hospitalized, 1 death
Hospitalizations
In addition to the VDH numbers, there is Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) data that is released each day. As of April 22, it shows 1,374 people are currently hospitalized with confirmed or pending COVID-19, with 419 in the ICU and 244 on ventilators. The total number of hospitalizations has gone up, but ICU and ventilator numbers are down slightly on Wednesday.
It also shows 1,497 patients who have been hospitalized for COVID-19 have been discharged.
Reporting probable cases
Virginia reported its highest daily increase of cases in cases of the pandemic so far on Tuesday with 640, though 179 of those were probable cases, according to health officials. Probable cases are those diagnosed by a doctor, but the patient hasn’t been officially tested, due to lack of supplies or other reasons. Probable cases are now being added to overall total number of cases in Virginia, but are broken down by cases officially confirmed by testing and probable cases.
Larry Hill with the Virginia Department of Health says the state established the protocol for recording probable cases back on April 5, but probable cases were not being displayed until Tuesday (April 21), and were not being added to the total COVID-19 count before Tuesday.
Of those 640 new cases on Tuesday, 179 were probable, VDH data shows. Taking away those probable cases and only looking at cases confirmed by positive tests, Virginia still saw 461 positive results, higher than Monday’s tally of 453. Hill says the figure of 179 from Tuesday was mainly due to VDH not reporting the probable cases until then, and he expects daily increase of probable cases to be lower going forward.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said earlier this week that one model had Virginia’s COVID-19 cases peaking around the end of this week, but cases would likely plateau around the same level for a while instead of a sharp decline in cases. Northam, citing White House guidelines for reopening states, says Virginia needs to have at least 14 days of declining daily case numbers before the first phase of recovery begins.
No Wednesday briefing
During his Monday, April 20 COVID-19 briefing, Governor Northam mentioned that he would not have a live briefing on Wednesday because of a General Assembly session happening the same day. Instead, he plans to hold the next press conference on Friday, April 24.
Northam participated in a special town hall along with other Virginia leaders Tuesday night, which aired on WAVY TV 10 and WVBT FOX43. If you missed it, you can watch it in its entirety here.
