COVID-19 Cases Surpass 800K In Virginia As Biden Mandates Vaccine

VIRGINIA — The number of positive cases of COVID-19 surpassed 800,000 in Virginia since the start of the pandemic, with 4,479 new cases reported on Friday, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

The seven-day average of new cases across Virginia currently stands at 3,380. On Monday, the VDH reported a seven-day case average of 3,423, the highest average since the beginning of the summer in mid-July. The last time the seven-day average was above 3,400 was Feb. 11.

The VDH reports that 8,797,038 PCR tests have been conducted in Virginia as of Friday, with a 10.9 percent positivity rate from those tests over the latest seven-day period, up from a 10.2 percent positivity rate reported a week ago on Sept. 3.

As of Friday, 2,150 people across Virginia were hospitalized with confirmed or test-pending cases of COVID-19, up from the 1,892 reported a week ago, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.

According to the VDH's vaccine dashboard, 10,124,670 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the state as of Friday, an increase of almost 110,000 doses from a week ago.

As of Friday, 65.1 percent of the state's population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 57.7 percent fully vaccinated.

The release of the latest vaccination data from the VDH follows President Joe Biden's announcement on Thursday that all employers with more than 100 workers must require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans.

Also, the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.

Biden announced the new requirements in a Thursday afternoon address from the White House as part of a new "action plan" to address the latest rise in coronavirus cases and the stagnating pace of COVID-19 shots.

The U.S. is seeing about 300 percent more new COVID-19 infections a day, about two-and-a-half times more hospitalizations, and nearly twice the number of deaths compared to the same time last year.

After a two-month surge in cases, though, the number of positive COVID-19 cases in Virginia is beginning to plateau, led by slowing or declining positive case numbers in some of the more heavily populated areas of the state, according to the latest data from the University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute.

Cases in the Fairfax Health District have entered “plateau” status, while Arlington and Prince William counties are in “slow growth” status. In Northern Virginia, Loudoun County is still classified as “in surge” by the University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute.

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