More than 4,300 new virus cases in Va.
State reports the largest single-day increase since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
The coronavirus’ Thanksgiving surge — as predicted by public health officials — has arrived.
On Wednesday morning, Virginia reported 4,398 new cases, the largest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic.
It puts the number of cases in the commonwealth just past 267,000, a rise of about 50,000 new cases since Friday.
The number of new cases reported each day has continued to increase, with more than 3,000 reported day after day.
There were more than 215,000 new cases Wednesday morning in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has had more than 15.1 million cases and about 286,000 deaths.
Virginia reported 4,281 deaths as of Wednesday morning, including 21 in the past 24 hours.
Across the country, 37 states are seeing sharp increases, including most mid-Atlantic states, according to the Virginia Department of Health. In Virginia, 30 of 35 health districts are on the rise, and of those, 21 are experiencing significant upticks, a VDH spokesperson said.
Of the cumulative cases in Virginia, the age group with the highest number is 20-29-yearolds or about 20% of the total cases, according to VDH data.
About 3.5 million Virginians have been tested so far. About 10.9% of standard tests for the coronavirus came back posi
tive over the past week in Virginia, a rise from Friday’s rate of 9.5%.
Nearly 700 new cases were reported in Hampton Roads over the past 24 hours — the most in Virginia Beach, with 234 new cases. Hampton had the second most, with 104 new cases, its worst day since the pandemic began. The Eastern Region is doing better than the rest of the state, but the numbers still aren’t good, said Larry Hill, the VDH spokesperson for the region.
“People have to comply with what we need to do to knock it down,” he said.
The spike in Hampton is not due to to a significant outbreak, but likely a backlog in reporting, said Irene Ferrainolo, the spokesperson for the Hampton health district.
The surge — everywhere — was about what was expected following Thanksgiving, she said, comparing it to what occurred after the Fourth of July.
“We are anticipating an equal or greater surge after the winter holidays,” she said.
Hampton also has the highest seven-day positivity rate in the area, with 12.7% of standard tests coming back positive. City Manager Mary Bunting had also noticed the numbers increasing. The city’s emergency management officer had asked if the health department had any insight.
“Our positivity rate has also grown each day. Most of the duration of COVID, we’ve actually been below the region when you look at a per capita kind of basis. And now we’re actually a little ahead, which was somewhat surprising to me,” Bunting said.
Before the holiday, Gov. Ralph Northam put new restrictions in place in hopes of curbing new cases, capping public gatherings at 25 people, down from 250. Children ages 5 and up are now required to wear masks.
Statewide, 1,653 hospitalized patients have tested positive and another 382 patients are waiting for results, according to data from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. About 30% of ventilators are in use and intensive care units are 78% full, according to VHHA data.
It’s a record for the number of hospitalizations since the pandemic began, according to the VHHA’s website. That surge also was expected. Ferrainolo said they are watching hospitalizations closely, but the sliver of good news is there is no surge in deaths because the care is so much more advanced and informed than six months ago.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed isolation and quarantine guidelines this week. If you’re exposed and quarantine for 10 days, you don’t need to get tested.
If you get a negative test, you have to quarantine for seven days, though the test must be on or after the fifth day. After stopping quarantine, the CDC says to watch for symptoms until 14 days after exposure and if you have symptoms, immediately self-isolate.
Hill said there’s more demand for testing now and the labs are getting results quickly, sometimes in 24 hours, or within 3-4 days. He emphasized again that people need to social distance and wear masks.
“We really need people to know it’s bad,” he said.