WAVY.com

Virginia Dec. 31 COVID-19 update: 5,239 new cases reported as Va. passes 5K deaths; Local positivity rate over 16%

Brian Reese

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — On the final day of 2020, Virginia reported its highest one-day increase in new coronavirus cases to date with 5,239, along with 48 new deaths as the commonwealth passed 5,000 total deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

There was most likely some holiday reporting lag that contributed to that one-day increase, but Virginia’s case levels are expected to continue to increase through February.


While vaccines are on the way, they won’t stop the current pace of the infections and deaths in Virginia, at least through the end of January.

A slow rollout of vaccines from the federal Operation Warp Speed program has left Virginia and other states with limited quantities of vaccines. The first doses are going to health care workers, nursing home residents and other people in these high-risk priority groups.

The Virginia Department of Health said Wednesday that some nursing homes may not get doses until the end of January. CVS and Walgreens started going to nursing homes this week to administer doses, and that process is expected to continue the next 3-4 weeks.

Many nursing homes and assisted living facilities are currently battling outbreaks as they wait for those vaccines, which require two doses, taken about three weeks apart, to be truly effective against COVID-19.

VDH didn’t say when they think they’ll be able to start vaccinating other high-risk groups and the general public, but said they’ll announce plans when that time gets closer. When asked if they were disappointed with the rollout of the vaccines, state health officials on Wednesday tried to talk about the positive contributions from workers at the local level rather than criticize the coordination effort with Warp Speed, citing the unprecedented effort and logistical issues.

Meanwhile hospitalizations continue to trend up in Virginia, breaking records for the current level of patients. 525 are in the ICU with COVID-19 and 328 are on ventilators.

Deaths are still climbing overall (holiday reporting lowered reported deaths), with 34 per day on average.

Local cases

Cases are also at an all-time high in Tidewater/Hampton Roads, with two cities, Portsmouth and Chesapeake, with positivity rates over 20%. Virginia Beach is at 15.5%, but it also has much more people than the other two cities. The overall percentage for the region is 16%.

Key local metrics

Test positivity

For more information from the Virginia Department of Health, click here.