Coronavirus death toll rises after January peak in cases

Over 200 people in Hampton Roads died this past week

During the past week, over 200 people in Hampton Roads were reported to have died of the coronavirus, a shocking measure of the devastating impact the pandemic had this winter.

Public health officials say the appearance of a sharp spike in deaths is a combination of the reporting system catching up on data backlogs and the way fatalities, as an indicator of COVID-19 severity, lag behind illnesses.

Communities across the state saw similar rises.

“We had a big upsurge in cases that peaked in January, cases that then proceeded to, unfortunately, die,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Norm Oliver said at a news conference Wednesday. “Some of these numbers are just that lag from the upsurge that we had, and we’ll see it come down in the coming days and weeks.”

The high local death toll comes on the heels of the United States recently surpassing more than a half-million deaths. That accounts for over 20% of the world’s COVID-19 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

During the past week, 213 people were reported to have died in Hampton Roads: 46 in Virginia Beach; 33 in Newport News; 32 in Chesapeake; 25 in Norfolk; 21 in Suffolk; 15 in Hampton; 11 in Portsmouth; eight in York; six each in Gloucester, Isle of Wight and James City counties; two in Mathews County; and one each in Franklin and Poquoson.

In general, new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are dropping throughout Virginia. As of last week, less than 8% of standard nasal swab tests statewide came back positive for the virus.

But if Virginians relax prevention methods of wearing masks, frequently washing hands and keeping a distance of 6 feet from others, new aggressive variants of the virus could take over, putting the state in jeopardy of a peak in late June, according to analysts at The University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute. Epidemiologists have anticipated the UK variant could become dominant in late March.

Despite concerns the variants could speed up the virus’ spread, Gov. Ralph Northam decided to relax some of his restrictions beginning Monday, expanding outdoor gathering sizes, lifting the stay-at-home curfew and extending the hours of alcohol sales, citing declining rates of cases and hospitalizations.

“It’s important to remember that we have strict health and safety protocols that remain in place — wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands, and staying home when you’re sick,” Alena Yarmosky, the governor’s press secretary, said in an email. “We know these mitigation measures work against every strain of the virus.”

So far, there have been about 452,000 confirmed cases in Virginia and 8,197 suspected deaths.

Health experts maintain that vaccines will be the most powerful tool in ending the pandemic. Roughly 588,000 Virginians had been fully inoculated as of Friday, and a little under 1.2 million had received at least one shot, representing about 14% of the population, according to state health department data.

Little by little, the inventory is increasing. Virginia is receiving about 180,000 first doses of Pfizer and Moderna a week for the next three weeks, said Dr. Danny Avula, state vaccine coordinator. That’s up from the 105,000 it got when supplies were rolled out in December. Vaccinators also expect another 130,000 second doses to arrive.

Several pharmacies in Virginia are receiving another 52,000 doses a week, combined, in shipments through a federal program.

One of those retail recipients is Walmart, which is conducting mass vaccination clinics at rotating sites, rather than giving shots in its stores.

State officials also expect the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine to begin arriving this week. Virginia will get about 69,000 doses in the first shipment, Avula said. Officials don’t believe they’ll get another delivery of that size until closer to the end of March, he said.

Virginia Beach’s case counts have continued to be the region’s highest, but for the past few weeks, those numbers have dropped. Last week saw a total of 841 newly confirmed positive, down from 944.

The next highest totals were in Chesapeake, at 489, and Newport News (389).

Higher case numbers are expected in bigger cities, but some localities with fewer people saw much greater rates of new cases per capita. Mathews County had the highest in Hampton Roads, with 50 per 100,000 people. By comparison, Virginia Beach had 27 cases per 100,000.

Here’s a look at the pandemic around the region:

Chesapeake had a daily case average of 70, down from 91 a week ago.

Virginia Beach had a daily case average of 120, down from 135.

Newport News had a daily case average of 56, down from 57.

Norfolk reported 386 new cases in the past week, with a daily case average of 55, down from 74.

Portsmouth reported 189 new cases, with a daily case average of 27, down from 41.

Hampton reported 234 new cases, with a daily case average of 33, down from 48.

James City County reported 85 new cases, with a daily case average of 12, the same as a week ago.

York County reported 95 new cases, with a daily case average of 14, down from 15.

Suffolk reported 189 new cases, with a daily case average of 27, down from 33.

Williamsburg reported 15 new cases, with a daily case average of two, down from four.

For other pandemic data, go to www.vdh.virginia.gov/ coronavirus.