Virginia Dec. 23 COVID-19 update: Record 4,652 new cases, 2,586 hospitalizations; 55 new deaths

Posted: Dec 23, 2020 / 01:11 PM MST

Updated: Dec 23, 2020 / 03:00 PM MST

Correction: WAVY incorrectly listed today as Thursday instead of Wednesday in a previous version of this story. We regret the error.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia reported a one-day record of new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with 4,652.

The Virginia Department of Health also reported 55 new deaths and 78 new current hospitalizations to bring current hospitalizations to a new record of 2,586. Numbers were delayed on Wednesday until noon (usually released around 9 a.m.).

NEW: The Virginia Dept. of Health launched its COVID-19 vaccine dashboard today.

Nearly 20K doses administered so far for Va. & 227,425 doses distributed.

First vaccines have gone to health care workers … long term care rollout to start next weekhttps://t.co/pXvfDYrJJd pic.twitter.com/lYx1tizJvU
— Brian Reese (@BrianReese_) December 23, 2020

Statewide numbers

New cases: (+4,652, 319,133 total), trending up (Thursday’s increase a one-day record)
Case incidence rate: 44.1 per 100K, trending up overall
New deaths (+55, 4,760 total), trending up (36 per day on average)
Current hospitalizations (+78 patients, 2,586 total), trending up overall, at record levels
Testing (11.6% 7-day average of positive tests), trending up overall, Virginia’s testing average is back up to around 30,000 per day

Virginia has reported 106 new COVID-19 deaths in the past two days, and is on the verge of passing 5,000 total deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. VDH is reporting 36 deaths per day and that average has consistently trended up. It’s currently just under a previous peak of 42 per day in September.

Hospitalizations are at record levels and climbing across all health districts. Hampton Roads just recently broke its record and now has 594 COVID-19 patients currently. 110 of those are in the ICU. 28,330 COVID-19 patients statewide have been hospitalized and discharged.

Metrics are continuing to trend up nationwide, with more than 2,600 deaths reported per day on average.

Our daily update is published. States reported 1.7 million tests, 189k cases, and 3,131 deaths. There are 117,777 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized. pic.twitter.com/WkyEGVzL1t
— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) December 23, 2020

Local cases

Hampton Roads is also seeing record levels of new cases and hospitalizations, and about 13% of tests are coming back positive.

Accomack: 1,604 cases, 120 hospitalized, 25 deaths (+16 cases, +1 hospitalization)
Chesapeake: 8,659 cases, 590 hospitalized, 96 deaths (+112 cases, +3 hospitalized, +1 death)
Franklin: 643 cases, 34 hospitalized, 17 deaths (+6 cases)
Gloucester: 784 cases, 28 hospitalized, 7 deaths (+36 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Hampton: 3,988 cases, 188 hospitalized, 43 deaths (+58 cases, +2 hospitalized)
Isle of Wight: 1,381 cases, 72 hospitalized, 29 deaths (+16 cases, +1 hospitalized)
James City County: 1,631 cases, 94 hospitalized, 27 deaths (+34 cases, +2 hospitalized, +1 death)
Mathews: 286 cases, 14 hospitalized, 3 deaths (+11 cases, +1 death)
Newport News: 5,401 cases, 193 hospitalized, 64 deaths (+86 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Norfolk: 8,150 cases, 542 hospitalized, 104 deaths (+162 cases, +7 hospitalized, +3 deaths)
Northampton: 410 cases, 54 hospitalized, 31 deaths (+5 cases)
Poquoson: 284 cases, 15 hospitalized, 3 deaths (+5 cases)
Portsmouth: 4,045 cases, 409 hospitalized, 76 deaths (+54 cases, +3 hospitalized, +1 death)
Southampton: 1,099 cases, 35 hospitalized, 41 deaths (+4 cases, + 1 death)
Suffolk: 3,635 cases, 224 hospitalized, 89 deaths (+54 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Virginia Beach: 14,859 cases, 705 hospitalized, 140 deaths (+240 cases, +26 hospitalized, +6 deaths)
Williamsburg: 348 cases, 22 hospitalized, 8 deaths (+2 cases)
York: 1,334 cases, 35 hospitalized, 11 deaths (+28 cases, +1 death)