Virginia Dec. 9 COVID-19 update: Record 4,398 cases, current hospitalizations top 2K patients for 1st time

Posted: Dec 9, 2020 / 09:34 AM EST

Updated: Dec 9, 2020 / 09:39 AM EST

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia reported a record daily increase of 4,398 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday as current COVID-19 hospitalizations topped 2,000 patients for the first time.

Statewide numbers:

New cases: (+4,398, 267,128 total), trending up overall, at record levels
Case incidence rate: 38 per 100K, trending up overall, at record levels
New deaths (+21, 4,281 total), steady overall, but trending up recently (52 reported Tuesday)
Current hospitalizations (+117 patients, 2,035 total), trending up overall, at record levels
Testing (10.9% 7-day average of positive tests), trending up overall, Virginia’s testing average down by several thousand tests recently around holiday, 24,000 per day on average

Hospitalizations passed the 2,000-mark for the first time and are trending up steadily. Hampton Roads’ hospitalizations are still under its peak set back in August, but Southwest Virginia is seeing record levels. However current modeling shows patients in Virginia’s Eastern region — which includes Virginia Beach — could exceed the number of hospital beds available by late January if current behaviors don’t change.

ICU usage has gone up 3% in the last three days, up to 78% overall, with 436 COVID-19 patients. 200 are on ventilators, Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association data shows.

Most of the new cases reported Wednesday wee outside of Hampton Roads, though the region is seeing an uptick. Wednesday’s increase of 668 cases in Hampton Roads is just below the record of 719 set back in July.

COVID-19 deaths overall are still relatively steady, but are at their highest reported average per day (24) since September and are trending up.

Deaths are at record averages nationally though, along with cases and current hospitalizations. The U.S. is averaging 2,225 COVID-19 deaths per day.

Our daily update is published. States reported 1.6 million tests, 213k cases, and 2,622 deaths. There are 104,600 COVID-19 patients in US hospitals. pic.twitter.com/EzQsMODdQH
— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) December 9, 2020

Local cases

Hampton Roads is seeing upward trends in all metrics, and nearly every health district has a test positivity rate of 10% or higher.

Accomack: 1,438 cases, 111 hospitalized, 21 deaths (+22 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Chesapeake: 7135 cases, 556 hospitalized, 86 deaths (+64 cases, +3 hospitalized)
Franklin: 580 cases, 28 hospitalized, 17 deaths (+3 cases)
Gloucester: 564 cases, 22 hospitalized, 5 deaths ( +5 cases)
Hampton: 3,139 cases, 146 hospitalized, 35 deaths (+104 cases, +2 hospitalized)
Isle of Wight: 1,125 cases, 60 hospitalized, 27 deaths (+14 cases, +3 hospitalized)
James City County: 1,294 cases, 79 hospitalized, 22 deaths (+11 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Mathews: 174 cases, 13 hospitalized, 1 death (no change)
Newport News: 4,369 cases, 171 hospitalized, 56 deaths (+46 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Norfolk: 7106 cases, 490 hospitalized, 98 deaths (+68 cases, +7 hospitalized)
Northampton: 360 cases, 50 hospitalized, 31 deaths (no change)
Poquoson: 216 cases, 11 hospitalized, 2 deaths (+6 cases, +7 hospitalized)
Portsmouth: 3,435 cases, 365 hospitalized, 72 deaths (+25 cases, +4 hospitalized, +1 death)
Southampton: 1029 cases, 34 hospitalized, 40 deaths ( +5 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Suffolk: 3022 cases, 182 hospitalized, 83 deaths (+36 cases, +8 hospitalized, +1 death)
Virginia Beach: 12,376 cases, 580 hospitalized, 122 deaths (+234 cases, +10 hospitalized, +2 deaths)
Williamsburg: 314 cases, 22 hospitalized, 8 deaths (+6 cases)
York: 1023 cases, 31 hospitalized, 9 deaths (+11 cases)