Virginia 'Ready' To Distribute Coronavirus Vaccine Once Available

VIRGINIA — With news that Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine against the coronavirus achieved effectiveness in participants, state officials say they're prepared with plans to distribute a coronavirus vaccine once a safe, effective one is ready.

Virginia State Health Commissioner Norm Oliver said in a news conference Tuesday that a vaccine could be expected by the end of the year from any of the vaccine developers in play, but he noted it will take months to vaccinate millions in Virginia.

"We are ready to get that vaccine and administer it to citizens here in the commonwealth," said Oliver. "A COVID-19 vaccine is especially important because in order to stop a pandemic, we really have to do our best to increase the immunity that exists in the population, and vaccines do that."

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam expressed optimism about Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 illness.

"Yesterday we all heard good news from Pfizer that their vaccine appears to be 90 percent effective," said Northam in a news conference. "That is very, very encouraging, but we should all remember that this isn't the magic bullet. Any approved vaccination will still take months to distribute."

State officials have already prepared a plan for distribution of the vaccine. The plan was submitted in early October to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and approved. Plans have been tweaked since then as new information came out from the CDC. Oliver said Virginia is prepared to work with the CDC and Department of Defense, which will be leading the vaccine allocations.

Northam said he was "heartened" that President-Elect Joe Biden's first action was to appoint a transitional coronavirus task force of health experts in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Other governors and I have said for months that a stronger federal response would be helpful to us, and I look forward to seeing that become a reality," said Northam.

On the testing front, Northam announced that Virginia is contracting with three labs to participate in a one lab network. The governor said this will help increase testing capacity specifically for high priority campaigns like community testing in surge areas, testing in congregate settings like nursing homes and outbreak investigations.

Oliver said the state is averaging 19,000 to 20,000 new tests per day. The new contract with labs is expected to add about 7,000 tests per day by the end of year.

The state is also in the process of distributing rapid antigen tests purchased through a Rockefeller Foundation testing compact involving multiple states. Virginia purchased 200,000 antigen tests, and they're being distributed to nursing homes and long-term care facilities. In addition, Virginia is receiving rapid BinaxNOW tests from the federal government and has distributed 52,000 so far.

As the holidays approach and Virginia is seeing a rise in cases, percent positivity and hospitalizations, Northam urged residents to continue their precautions. State officials continue to monitor southwest Virginia, which Northam said is seeing rising cases, community spread and a percent positivity around 9 percent. The region also has fewer hospitals than other regions of the state.

Officials are focusing on a communications campaign to emphasize safety protocols to reduce the spread of the virus: avoiding indoor gatherings, washing hands and wearing face coverings. Southwest Virginia leaders are working with Ballad Health to reinforce the message about face coverings, while business, faith and education leaders have also reached out to the community.

"Remember Virginia has a mask mandate in place when you're indoors or out in public," said Northam. "It's also a good idea to wear a mask whenever you're around other people, especially indoors."

Overall, the governor said Virginians have done an "exceptional job" in the last eight months responding to the pandemic.

"I want to say by and large people have listened to the public health advice, and we can't stop now," said the governor. "We put on our face coverings in public, and we avoid large crowds. And we need to keep it up. It's more important now than ever. We cannot get complacent or let down our guard for the holidays. I don't want to see our case counts continue to rise, but we want to lower them, and we all must do our part."

Northam said he wasn't asking people to avoid celebrating Thanksgiving. Rather, he wants people to remember the virus spreads through the air and it spreads more easily indoors. He asked people to think about how indoor spaces are ventilated and whether there are options for outdoor, smaller gatherings. Residents are asked to take precautions around anyone who does not live in their own house, even if they are family members.

On the numbers

On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health reported 1,435 new cases, and the latest seven-day average of daily cases is 1,462. That's the highest case average the state has seen to date. A month ago on Oct. 10, the average was 1,015.

New cases by region on Tuesday include 438 in the southwest region, 340 in the northern region, 234 in the eastern region, 218 in the central region, and 205 in the northwest region.

The statewide seven-day positive average of PCR tests is 6.2 percent as of Nov. 6. Regional averages are 9.4 percent in the southwest region, 6.2 percent in the northern region, 5.8 percent in the central region, 5.2 percent in the eastern region, and 4.3 percent in the northwest region. Statewide, 2,820,659 tests have been completed to date, an increase of 17,809 since Monday.

On Tuesday, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals stood at 1,174, and the seven-day average of patients is 1,087.9. Patients by region include 316 in the southwest region, 272 in the northern region, 232 in the central region, 196 in the eastern region, and 158 in the northwest region.

The 1,174 statewide hospitalizations include 88 patients on ventilators and 224 in the intensive care units, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. As of Monday, ventilator use among all hospital patients stands at 27 percent, and ICU occupancy is at 79 percent occupancy. No hospitals are reporting difficulty obtaining personal protective equipment or other medical supplies in the next 72 hours.

Below are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Monday to Tuesday:

• Alexandria: 4,533 cases, 334 hospitalizations, 76 deaths; increase of 16 cases
• Arlington County: 5,093 cases, 546 hospitalizations, 155 deaths; increase of 33 cases
• Fairfax County: 25,593 cases, 2,354 hospitalizations, 607 deaths; increase of 130 cases, six hospitalizations and one death
• Fairfax City: 175 cases, 16 hospitalizations, eight deaths; increase of two cases
• Falls Church: 78 cases, 13 hospitalizations, seven deaths; one case removed
• Loudoun County: 8,486 cases, 508 hospitalizations, 134 deaths; increase of 72 cases and three hospitalizations
• Manassas: 2,113 cases, 133 hospitalizations, 28 deaths; increase of six cases, one hospitalization and one death
• Manassas Park: 674 cases, 58 hospitalizations, eight deaths; no changes
• Prince William County: 15,367 cases, 1,032 hospitalizations, 226 deaths; increase of 81 cases, six hospitalizations and two deaths
• Fredericksburg: 622 cases, 54 hospitalizations, six deaths; increase of three cases
• Spotsylvania County: 2,648 cases, 160 hospitalizations, 55 deaths; increase of 15 cases and one hospitalization
• Stafford County: 2,628 cases, 176 hospitalizations, 22 deaths; increase of 12 cases