Uptick In Vaccine Supplies For Virginians Expected Next Week

VIRGINIA — Virginia is expecting a jump in its weekly shipment of COVID-19 vaccine doses next week, according to the state's vaccine coordinator.

Virginia is set to receive almost 20,000 more doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccine next week. That would bring the total to 180,000 first-round doses delivered weekly to the state, Dr. Danny Avula said Friday at a news conference.

The number is expected to climb even higher after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorization on Saturday for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Virginia health officials expect to receive 69,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the beginning of the new week.

Under the federal pharmacy partnership, Virginia pharmacies will continue to get 52,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. All of the new pharmacies taking part in that program have begun vaccinating, including Walgreens and Walmart. Instead of doing in-store vaccinations, Walmart is setting up mass vaccination clinics around the state, Avula said.

Among universities in the state, the University of Virginia eased restrictions on Friday as cases dropped after implementing new restrictions on Feb. 16 in response to a rise in COVID-19 cases. The seven-day average positivity rate of cases within the University of Virginia community dropped from a high of 4.41 percent to 2.29 percent on Thursday.

COVID-19 Data

The Virginia Department of Health reported 185 news deaths related to COVID-19 on Saturday, increasing the total number of Virginians who have died from the disease to 8,382. Of the new deaths reported Saturday, 34 were in Northern Virginia.

The VDH has reported 4,788 deaths from COVID-19 in 2021, or 57 percent of the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic last March. In the first nine months of the pandemic in 2020, the health department reported 3,594 deaths related to COVID-19.

According to VDH data as of Saturday, 1,855,904 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Virginia. There are 1,239,435 people with at least one dose (14.5 percent of the population) and 616,469 with two doses (7.2 percent of the population).

The state is averaging 34,078 doses administered per day. Local health departments lead with 591,974 total doses given, followed by hospitals with 575,542 total doses, medical practices with 209,934, long-term care facilities with 207,371, community health providers with 183,470 and pharmacies with 87,613.

An additional 1,675 coronavirus cases were reported on Saturday. The seven-day average of daily cases was 1,786. The cumulative coronavirus case total for Virginia is 574,314. Northern Virginia had 350 new cases on Saturday and a seven-day average of 446.

As of Saturday, the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized stood at 1,372, which includes 303 in the intensive care units and 195 on ventilators. The seven-day moving average for hospitalizations in Virginia now stands at 1,514.1.

As reported by the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, ICU occupancy among all hospital patients is at 79 percent, and ventilator use was at 31 percent.

Virginia's seven-day average of positive tests stood at 7.4 percent as of Feb. 23. The average has been trending down since reaching a winter peak of 17.4 percent on Jan. 3. Northern Virginia's average is 6.8 percent on Feb. 23, compared to a winter peak of 16.6 percent on Jan. 2.

The average number of daily PCR testing encounters is trending down since peaking at 35,024 on Jan. 14. The latest average is 20,514.

Below are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Friday to Saturday:

• Alexandria: 10,299 cases, 507 hospitalizations, 114 deaths; increase of 14 cases, one hospitalization and one death
• Arlington County: 13,112 cases, 769 hospitalizations, 223 deaths; increase of 52 cases, four hospitalizations and two deaths
• Fairfax County: 66,354 cases, 3,499 hospitalizations, 920 deaths; increase of 156 cases, eight hospitalizations and 12 deaths
• Fairfax City: 489 cases, 37 hospitalizations, 13 deaths; no changes
• Falls Church: 351 cases, 20 hospitalizations, seven deaths; increase of five cases
• Loudoun County: 22,997 cases, 862 hospitalizations, 221 deaths; increase of 58 cases, 11 hospitalizations and seven deaths
• Manassas: 3,994 cases, 162 hospitalizations, 37 deaths; increase of two cases
• Manassas Park: 1,123 cases, 66 hospitalizations, 11 deaths; increase of two cases
• Prince William County: 39,211 cases, 1,389 hospitalizations, 398 deaths; increase of 61 cases, 11 hospitalizations and nine deaths
• Fredericksburg: 1,767 cases, 93 hospitalizations, 19 deaths; increase of four cases
• Spotsylvania County: 8,270 cases, 280 hospitalizations, 98 deaths; increase of 19 cases and one death
• Stafford County: 9,492 cases, 309 hospitalizations, 66 deaths; increase of 12 cases