COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Rising: What To Know In VA

VIRGINIA — Data published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points to a summer increase in COVID-19 cases in Virginia and elsewhere around the country.

The data shows COVID-19 hospitalizations were up 12 percent nationwide, and that emergency room visits and test positivity also increased in what health officials say is the greatest spike in COVID hospitalizations since last winter. Independent laboratories have also noted an increase in COVID-19 test positivity, CNN reported.

The CDC data for Virginia, current as of July 22, showed 123 people hospitalized for COVID, an 0.8 percent increase in the number of people hospitalized with the respiratory disease in the past week. That means 1.44 people per 100,000 residents were hospitalized with COVID.

Since August of 2020, a total of 119,376 Virginians have been hospitalized with COVID, the CDC said.

Throughout July 2023, the number of COVID cases in Virginia has hovered around 120 each week, the CDC said. The tally went from 83 to about 120 cases weekly in June.

Summer travel outside usual social circles, record heat that keeps people indoors and waning immunity are possible reasons for the uptick in cases. CDC data shows the number of Americans who are up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations is decreasing, and health officials say the low number of cases means people aren't developing enough antibodies compared to previous infections.

In Virginia, the state's COVID dashboard showed that as of Aug. 1, the total number of residents who were fully vaccinated stood at 18,553,328. Of that number, 74 percent of Virginians have received the primary vaccination, while 18 percent have updated vaccinations.

State records show 1,386,322 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maryland since the pandemic began, with 16,571 confirmed deaths from the virus.

Importantly, the mild spike in cases is from an already low level of cases. Health experts expect the wave to be far less intense than in previous summers, and aren’t sure how long it will last.

Wastewater surveillance data suggests new COVID-19 cases are already leveling off, but much of the data public health officials have used to track trends was scaled back when the federal health emergency ended in May.

The last time so little data was available was in the early days of the pandemic, Caitlin Rivers, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNN.

That makes it difficult to “know what lies ahead,” Rivers said. “So it may yet peter out.”

Rivers noted that it is encouraging the increase doesn’t appear to have been driven by the emergence of a new variant.

Some U.S. counties are seeing much higher rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Two counties in Texas saw a 250 percent increase with 14 new people hospitalized — a “high” rate given their small populations, according to the CDC classification.

Other areas with higher numbers of cases are in southeast Texas, northeastern Oregon, central Oklahoma, Hawaii County, and southern Nebraska, as well as in Mohave County, Arizona, and Colquitt County, Georgia.