Coronavirus Hospitalizations Fluctuate Daily Across Virginia

VIRGINIA — Hospitalizations of Virginians who tested positive for the coronavirus continue to fluctuate on a daily basis. The number of currently hospitalized patients with confirmed or pending coronavirus test results totaled 1,529 on Tuesday, an increase of 25 people from Monday, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

In contrast, the number of hospitalized patients with confirmed or pending coronavirus test results totaled 1,504 on Monday, a drop of 51 people from Sunday.

Hospitalizations, along with the percentage of people who are testing positive for the coronavirus, are two of the key measures Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has cited as ways to determine whether it is safe to move into a phase one reopening. As the state ramps up testing of people who are not showing symptoms of the coronavirus and as it increases the number of antibody tests, the percentage of positive tests will automatically decline.

On Monday, the Virginia Department of Health reported that 167,758 tests had been conducted. It is unclear how many were antibody tests. By counting those, Virginia boosts the overall number of tests and lowers the percentage of positive results.

Northam said Monday that he expects to hold Northern Virginia out of the gradual phase one reopening of the rest of the state expected to take effect Friday. Of nearly 1,000 new coronavirus infections reported in the state Monday, almost three-quarters of them were in Northern Virginia.

According to Northam, Northern Virginia has an approximately 25-percent positivity rate, while the rest of the state is closer to 10 percent. Hospitalizations appear stable for Northern Virginia and the state as a whole, but COVID-19 patients make up a greater portion of hospital patients in Northern Virginia than rest of the state.

As of Tuesday, 25,800 people in Virginia tested positive for coronavirus, an increase of 730 positive cases since Monday, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Across the state, 171,239 coronavirus tests have been conducted as of Tuesday, up 3,481 from the 167,758 tests that had been performed as of Monday.

There have been 3,400 COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals during the crisis as of Tuesday, an increase of 127 patients since Monday., according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

On Tuesday, 201 COVID-19 patients were using ventilators, an increase of seven from the 194 patients using ventilators on Monday. Among all hospital patients in Virginia, there are 662 ventilators in use of the 2,937 available ventilators in hospitals, representing 23-percent use in Virginia.

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No Virginia hospitals are reporting difficulty obtaining or replenishing personal protective equipment or other medical supplies.

Across Virginia, 275 outbreaks of the coronavirus have been reported, with 162 of them occurring at long-term care facilities where there have been 522 reported deaths from the coronavirus.

At Virginia prisons, officials are reporting 928 positive cases of the coronavirus and four deaths, up from two deaths reported Monday.

The latest prison death was a 66-year-old man at the Buckingham Correctional Facility who died on May 3. As of late last week, 12 other Buckingham inmates, three of whom are hospitalized, have tested positive for coronavirus.

The first inmate to die was a 49-year-old woman at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women on April 14. On April 29, a 60-year-old inmate at Sussex II State Prison died. A 48-year-old male inmate at the Deerfield Correctional Center died on April 26. Three of the four inmates who died were in prison for drug crimes.

Here are the latest updates for localities in our Northern Virginia coverage area, as of Tuesday.

• Alexandria: 1,240 cases, 145 hospitalizations, 30 deaths
• Arlington County: 1,416 cases, 288 hospitalizations, 66 deaths
• Fairfax County: 6,470 cases, 972 hospitalizations, 253 deaths
• Fairfax City: 40 cases, six hospitalizations, three deaths
• Falls Church: 37 cases, nine hospitalizations, four deaths
• Loudoun County: 1,210 cases, 119 hospitalizations, 35 deaths
• Manassas: 430 cases, 42 hospitalizations, three deaths
• Manassas Park: 139 cases, 16 hospitalizations, three deaths
• Prince William County: 3,078 cases, 299 hospitalizations, 58 deaths
• Fredericksburg: 66 cases, 14 hospitalizations, no deaths
• Spotsylvania County: 261 cases, 28 hospitalizations, four deaths
• Stafford County: 396 cases, 59 hospitalizations, four deaths

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