PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia’s number of current COVID-19 hospitalizations continues to sharply rise statewide, up by more than 400 patients in a two-week span.

Virginia now has 1,469 patients hospitalized, less than 200 patients under its peak levels in May, and the trend is showing no signs of slowing down.

Most of the new hospitalizations have been outside Hampton Roads, but the region is starting to see somewhat of an uptick, with hospitalizations at their highest level in over a month (229 patients).

ICU occupancy increased to 74% Wednesday, up from 73% Tuesday, and ventilator use went up 1% to 27%. Virginia’s hospitals sent out a joint statement on Tuesday pleading with people to follow safety guidelines to avoid overwhelming the commonwealth’s health system.

Statewide numbers:

  • New cases: (+2,071 208,833 total), steep rise, more than double case levels of most of pandemic
  • New deaths (+25, 3,860 total), steady overall, but reported deaths trending up recently
  • Current hospitalizations (+77 patients, 1,469 total), trending up sharply, highest since May
  • Testing (7.1% 7-day average of positive tests), trending up overall, Virginia averaging around 21,000 tests per day, percent positivity up by more than 2% compared to last month

Virginia is now starting to also consistently report about 2,000 cases per day, roughly double the case loads for most of the pandemic.

Deaths still remain somewhat steady and low compared to most of the pandemic, but reported deaths are up recently. 54 new deaths have been reported in the last two days. “Deaths by date of death” is the day a COVID-19 patient actually died. The reported deaths can lag and come in bunches.

Nationally, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all rising — with cases and hospitalizations at record levels.

Local metrics

Cases and hospitalizations are trending up in Hampton Roads, though not quite as sharply as other areas of the commonwealth. Percent positivity shot up in recent days, but appears to have slowed some, with positivity rates down slightly on Wednesday.

Cumulative counts for Hampton Roads

  • Accomack 1,270 cases, 102 hospitalized, 21 deaths (+4 cases)
  • Chesapeake: 5,695 cases, 510 hospitalized, 80 deaths (+59 cases, +4 hospitalized)
  • Franklin 530 cases, 27 hospitalized, 15 deaths (-1 case)
  • Gloucester: 388 cases, 19 hospitalized, 3 deaths (+1 case)
  • Hampton: 2,449 cases, 108 hospitalized, 34 deaths (+7 cases)
  • Isle of Wight: 941 cases, 51 hospitalized, 27 deaths (+1 hospitalized)
  • James City County: 1,077 cases, 71 hospitalized, 22 deaths (+2 case)
  • Mathews: 149 cases, 12 hospitalized, 1 deaths (no changes)
  • Newport News: 3,618 cases, 126 hospitalized, 53 deaths (+18 cases, +1 hospitalized)
  • Norfolk: 6,083 cases, 430 hospitalized, 87 deaths (+46 cases, +3 hospitalized)
  • Northampton: 334 cases, 49 hospitalized, 31 deaths (+1 case)
  • Poquoson: 118 cases, 3 hospitalized, 2 deaths (-1 case)
  • Portsmouth: 3,031 cases, 345 hospitalized, 70 deaths (+4 cases)
  • Southampton: 957 cases, 30 hospitalized, 39 deaths (+2 cases)
  • Suffolk: 2,553 cases, 152 hospitalized, 80 deaths (+5 cases)
  • Virginia Beach: 9,533 cases, 483 hospitalized, 111 deaths (+104 cases, +5 hospitalized)
  • Williamsburg: 264 cases, 15 hospitalized, 8 deaths (+4 case)
  • York: 775 cases, 26 hospitalized, 9 deaths (+8 cases)

Key local metrics

  • 265 new cases, trending up
  • 0 new deaths
  • +24 current hospitalizations (229 total), trending up
  • Percent of positive tests: 6.36%, down slightly after recent steep increases

Positivity rates

  • Chesapeake — 8% — sharp trend up but appearing to slow down, up 3% compared to last month
  • Eastern Shore — 5.5% — steady overall but a slight increase recently
  • Hampton — 7.3% —  sharp trend up but appearing to slow down
  • Norfolk — 6.6% — trending up
  • Peninsula — 4.5% — mostly steady overall, recent trend up
  • Portsmouth — 6.3% — trending up
  • Virginia Beach — 7% — trending up overall, not as steep as Chesapeake
  • Western Tidewater — 5.7% — trending up overall, but down slightly

For more info from VDH, click here.

WAVY will update the positivity rates when the VDH site returns to full functionality.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam will hold another coronavirus briefing at 2 p.m. Wednesday, just days after announcing new restrictions for Virginia that went into effect on Sunday.

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