Coronavirus Hospitalizations Fall Below 1K In Virginia

VIRGINIA — While some states are seeing surges in coronavirus cases, there is continued progress on Virginia's public health metrics a month since Gov. Ralph Northam started to ease restrictions. On Monday, 380 additional cases and six new deaths were reported statewide, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The latest cumulative totals are 54,886 cases, 5,588 hospitalizations and 1,552 deaths.

Most of Virginia began phase one of reopening on May 15 and phase two on June 5. Northern Virginia, Richmond and Accomack County started phase one on May 29, and phase two was delayed for Northern Virginia and Richmond until June 12. There have been improvements on the percent positive rate, hospitalizations, daily cases, and more.

Monday's 380 new cases is the lowest daily increase since April 15, when there were 329 new cases. The highest numbers of new cases were 1,615 on May 26, 1,483 on May 25, and 1,284 on June 7.

While there are fluctuations in daily cases, the percent of tests coming back positive is on the decline. The latest 7-day moving average of positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR or nasal swab) tests was 7.5 percent on June 11. At the peak, Virginia had just over 20 percent of tests coming back positive on April 20. On Friday, a backlog of about 43,000 tests added into the database contributed to a decrease in the positive rate. According to the Northern Virginia Regional Commission dashboard, the region's positive rate was 11.1 percent on June 11, compared to a peak of 35.9 percent on April 26.

Northern Virginia accounts for 151 of the new cases, or nearly 40 percent, on Monday. This includes 75 in the Fairfax Health District, 39 in the Prince William Health District, 20 in Loudoun County, nine in Alexandria and eight in Arlington County.

Hospitalizations fell below 1,000 for the first time since VDH began displaying data in mid-April. As of Monday, 902 patients with pending or confirmed COVID-19 results are hospitalized across the state, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. A month ago on May 15, there were 1,511 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. There have been 7,230 COVID-19 patients released from hospitals across Virginia.

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Ventilator and intensive care unit use among COVID-19 patients continues to fall. As of Monday, there were 130 pending or confirmed COVID-19 patients on ventilators and 269 in the ICU. Among all Virginia hospital patients, 600 of 2,944 available ventilators are being used, representing 20 percent use. No hospitals report difficulty obtaining or restocking personal protective gear or other medical supplies within the next 72 hours.

A weekly report from VDH estimated 916,868 coronavirus cases have been avoided due to mitigation strategies. Citing a model from the University of Virginia, VDH believes new cases will continue to decline with increased contact tracing and testing combined with Virginia residents' adherence to Forward Virginia reopening guidelines.

There are other factors that will have an unknown impact, VDH says.

"Cases are rising in some states, including key border states and states along the I-95 corridor," reads the report. "Protests are bringing people together throughout the United States, including in Virginia. We are just beginning to reopen, and it is unclear what impact all of these factors will have. Although the situation looks good right now, the path we take depends on all of us."

Here are the latest cumulative case updates for our coverage areas from Friday to Monday:

• Alexandria: 2,160 cases, 225 hospitalizations, 48 deaths; increase of 32 cases and three hospitalizations
• Arlington County: 2,346 cases, 405 hospitalizations, 125 deaths; increase of 39 cases and eight hospitalizations
• Fairfax County: 13,092 cases, 1,500 hospitalizations, 423 deaths; increase of 229 cases, 36 hospitalizations and two deaths
• Fairfax City: 67 cases, seven hospitalizations, six deaths; one case removed
• Falls Church: 56 cases, 11 hospitalizations, seven deaths; one death removed
• Loudoun County: 3,404 cases, 204 hospitalizations, 71 deaths; increase of 124 cases and one death
• Manassas: 1,314 cases, 86 hospitalizations, 13 deaths; increase of 32 cases and one death
• Manassas Park: 384 cases, 45 hospitalizations, six deaths; increase of 15 cases and four hospitalizations
• Prince William County: 6,608 cases, 613 hospitalizations, 122 deaths; increase of 169 cases, 15 hospitalizations and two deaths
• Fredericksburg: 211 cases, 24 hospitalizations, no deaths; increase of 12 cases
• Spotsylvania County: 837 cases, 55 hospitalizations, 16 deaths; increase of 98 cases, three hospitalizations and four deaths
• Stafford County: 893 cases, 89 hospitalizations, five deaths; increase of 31 cases and one hospitalization

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