VA Coronavirus Hospitalizations Drop; No Shortage In Ventilators

VIRGINIA — The total number of reported deaths from the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, in Virginia stands at 231 as of Friday, an increase of 23 deaths reported on Thursday. Henrico County has reported 62 deaths as of Friday, followed by Fairfax County with 37 people who have died, Arlington County with 15 deaths, Prince William County with 14 deaths and the Peninsula Health District with 14 deaths, according to Virginia Department of Health data.

State Health Commissioner Norm Oliver noted Wednesday that there is a reporting lag and the state's daily reporting of deaths does not mean all of those deaths occurred in a 24-hour period. "Many of those deaths were from a prior time," Oliver said.

The Virginia Department of Health reported 7,491 positive cases of the coronavirus on Friday, an increase of 602 positive cases reported a day earlier. At 1,476, Fairfax County has the most people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the state.

Prince William County has the second most people who have tested positive, at 644. The City of Manassas has 72 people who have tested positive and the City of Manassas Park has 21 people who have tested positive. Almost 740 people in the Prince William County area have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Henrico County is next with 532 people who have tested positive, followed by Arlington County with 485 people and Loudoun County with 385 people. Loudoun County has seven reported deaths as of Friday, according to Virginia Department of Health Data.

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About 52 percent of the positive tests in Virginia are women and 47 percent are men. About 1 percent of the positive cases do not indicate if they are female or male.

According to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association's data tracker, which provides more detailed information on hospitalized patients than the Virginia Department of Health, 1,308 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus or are awaiting their coronavirus test results are hospitalized. This number is 29 fewer people than who were reported hospitalized with the coronavirus on Thursday.

According to the association, 1,110 people who were hospitalized with the coronavirus have been discharged.

Of the people hospitalized in Virginia with the coronavirus, 224 are on a ventilator, a decrease of 13 people reported to be on ventilators on Thursday. There are 622 ventilators in use at hospitals across Virginia for the coronavirus and other reasons, down from 700 on Thursday. That number represents about 22 percent of the total number of ventilators available in the state, according to the association.

Long-term care facilities are still seeing large numbers of residents testing positive for the coronavirus. Of the 117 coronavirus outbreaks across Virginia, 66 of them have occurred in long-term care facilities as of Friday, state Health Department numbers show.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday extended his shutdown order for certain non-essential businesses, which initially was set to expire April 23, until May 8. A separate stay-at-home order for Virginia residents is in effect through June 10.

Based on data modeling and information from hospitals, the current social distancing measures and other actions are working to prevent major spikes in cases of the coronavirus, Northam said Wednesday at his coronavirus press briefing. Because the state's actions appear to be "flattening the curve" of coronavirus cases, the governor said now is not the time to lift any of the restrictions implemented over the past month.

The number of unemployment claims has skyrocketed across the country due to people losing their jobs because of coronavirus-related business closures. Hundreds of thousands of Virginians have filed unemployment claims since mid-March.

But last week, fewer people in Virginia filed for unemployment benefits than the week before. According data from the U.S. Department of Labor, 106,723 people in Virginia filed unemployment claims for the week ending April 11, down from 147,369 initial claims for the week ending April 4.

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