VA Reports Under 2,000 New Coronavirus Cases, Lowest Since Monday

VIRGINIA — The tally of new coronavirus cases in Virginia dipped slightly on Thursday to 1,954 after three consecutive days with over 2,000 new cases. Despite the slight decrease, Virginians are still urged to stay home and avoid gatherings this Thanksgiving.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday issued a stark warning to Americans, according to a report by The Washington Post: If you travel and choose to spend the holidays with friends and families, you could inadvertently bring the coronavirus home with you.

"What's at stake is basically the increased chance of one of your loved ones becoming sick and then being hospitalized and dying," Henry Walke, the CDC's COVID-19 incident manager, said during the briefing.

The CDC guidance came one day after Virginia's own governor, Ralph Northam, urged residents in the Old Dominion state to consider the risk a Thanksgiving gathering could pose for themselves and their loved ones.

"We all want to be together to have our traditions to celebrate something with people we deeply care about. I know there have been few enough celebrations this year," he said in a news conference. "We think of Thanksgiving as a time of family and of love and maybe some football. But this year staying home is an act of love too."

Still, Northam said he is optimistic about Pfizer and Moderna's announcements that their vaccine candidates achieved effectiveness close to 95 percent or more during trials. Northam said Virginia could expect to receive its first supplies of the drugs as early as mid-December.

Virginia expects initial quantities of the vaccine to be limited and geared toward the health care workforce and first responders. As production ramps up in the early months of 2021, the next phase of mass vaccination can proceed. In addition to Pfizer and Moderna, it is estimated that six or seven vaccine candidates are close to completion.

Coronavirus Trends in Virginia and Governor's Coronavirus Measures

The governor has announced new measures aimed at preventing the pandemic from worsening in Virginia, including placing a 25-person limit on social gatherings; ending alcohol sales, consumption and possession of alcohol after 10 p.m.; altering spectator limits at recreational sporting events, entertainment venues and racetracks; expanding the mask mandate to cover residents ages 5 and up; and enforcing guidelines that were previously considered best practices for essential businesses.

Before making the decision to implement additional restrictions last week, Northam said he was personally affected by reports of hospitals in other states using mobile morgues due to a lack of room for deceased individuals.

"We don't need to happen in Virginia," he said.

Among U.S. states, Virginia is in better shape than other states. According to New York Times analysis of cases in U.S. states, Virginia is near the bottom for daily case averages per 100,000 people.

Statewide, Northam said hospitalizations are up, and there has been a record of daily cases reported this week. On Thursday, 1,954 additional coronavirus cases were reported by the Virginia Department of Health, and the latest seven-day average of daily cases is 1,823 daily cases.

Thursday marks the first day since Monday with cases under 2,000, although Monday's 2,677 cases included a backlog from the weekend. The trend of cases by date of symptom onset reached a peak higher than previous May and July peaks.

Upon reporting the latest coronavirus numbers, State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver noted that the case incidence rate had been 9 per 100,000 a month ago and is now approaching 20 cases per 100,000 on Wednesday.

The region with the greatest concern of the virus spread is the southwest region, but Northam said all regions are seeing increases. New cases by region include 584 in the southwest region, 451 in the northern region, 332 in the northwest region, 297 in the eastern region and 290 in the central region.

The seven-day average of percent positivity of tests is 7.1 percent as of Nov. 19. To date, 3,007,461 PCR tests have been completed. Oliver said the state is averaging 20,000 tests reported per day.

There were 36 new deaths reported Thursday. Deaths do not reflect the date of death, but the Virginia Department of Health tracks this data separately. Data by date on death certificates may be incomplete for recent weeks, but the peak seven-day average so far was 40 on May 5.

Current COVID-19 hospitalizations are at 1,569 statewide with the latest seven-day average being 1,379.9. The peak average had been 1,573.3 on May 12. Hospital patients by region include 392 in the northern region, 365 in the southwest region, 290 in the central region, 293 in the northwest region, and 229 in the eastern region.

According to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, the 1,569 current COVID-19 patients include 123 on ventilators and 303 in the intensive care units.

Ventilator use among all hospital patients is at 27 percent, and ICU occupancy is at 75 percent. There are no hospitals reporting difficulty obtaining personal protective equipment or other medical supplies in the next 72 hours.

Precautions urged for Thanksgiving celebrations

The governor on Wednesday offered suggestions for safe Thanksgiving celebrations.

"Eat outside if you can, have a smaller gathering, hold a virtual Thanksgiving... Do your Black Friday shopping online. College students need to be very careful and thoughtful about how and whether to go home for the holiday," Northam said. "Let's all act together to make sure that next year, everybody that we love is at that Thanksgiving table."

Below are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Tuesday to Wednesday.

• Alexandria: 4,797 cases, 345 hospitalizations, 77 deaths; increase of 29 cases, one hospitalization and one death
• Arlington County: 5,544 cases, 566 hospitalizations, 156 deaths; increase of 32 cases and three hospitalizations
• Fairfax County: 27,475 cases, 2,448 hospitalizations, 612 deaths; increase of 205 cases, 16 hospitalizations and one death
• Fairfax City: 191 cases, 16 hospitalizations, eight deaths; increase of one case
• Falls Church: 86 cases, 14 hospitalizations, seven deaths; increase of one case
• Loudoun County: 9,046 cases, 529 hospitalizations, 138 deaths; increase of 26 cases, two hospitalizations and two deaths
• Manassas: 2,180 cases, 134 hospitalizations, 28 deaths; increase of nine cases
• Manassas Park: 688 cases, 60 hospitalizations, eight deaths; increase of two cases, one hospitalization
• Prince William County: 16,439 cases, 1,063 hospitalizations, 231 deaths; increase of 146 cases, four hospitalizations and one death
• Fredericksburg: 641 cases, 55 hospitalizations, six deaths; increase of one case
• Spotsylvania County: 2,825 cases, 171 hospitalizations, 56 deaths; increase of 18 cases
• Stafford County: 2,891 cases, 182 hospitalizations, 22 deaths; increase of 40 cases