Virginia Jan. 4 COVID-19 update: Cases and hospitalizations at record averages for Va., COVID-19 deaths near record – WAVY.com

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) Virginia reported 3,771 new coronavirus cases, 8 new COVID-19 deaths and 57 new current COVID-19 hospitalizations on Monday.

Cases and hospitalization averages are both at record levels and continue to trend up, with 4,480 cases per day and 2,727 COVID-19 patients at one time in Virginias hospitals on a given day on average. COVID-19 deaths, which lag cases and hospitalizations, are also nearing new records. Virginias deaths per day is now at 39, just below the previous record of 42 per day in September.

Current levels are expected to trend up into February. By then health officials are hoping vaccinations could help knock the overall virus levels down.

Statewide numbers

Testing levels dipped slightly due to the holidays, which contributed to higher test positivity percentages, but tests coming back positive are still at high levels around 16% statewide and 18% in Hampton Roads.

Vaccines are slowly rolling out, with just 87,618 doses administered so far. VDH had not updated data for Monday as of 9:30 a.m., so that figure is from Sunday.

Virginia is still in the process of vaccinating health care workers, and just started vaccinating long-term care staff and residents last week. A long-term care operator who spoke to 10 On Your Side said he was frustrated with the slow rollout. The state health department said that it could take until the end of January for all nursing homes to get their vaccines through a partnership with CVS and Walgreens.

VDH hasnt said when the general public should expect to get the vaccine.

Curently 563 of the 2,765 COVID-19 patients are in the ICU. ICU capacity statewide is at 82%, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association says.

COVID-19 hospitalizations nationwide are at a record high with 124,390 on average. Cases and deaths reporting dipped due to the holiday.

Our daily update is published. States reported 1.4 million tests, 205k cases, 125,544 people hospitalized, and 1,431 COVID-19 deaths. Holiday data reporting effects are almost certainly still in play. pic.twitter.com/4lECF5PbFq

Key local metrics

Test positivity

For more information from the Virginia Department of Health,click here.

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Virginia Jan. 4 COVID-19 update: Cases and hospitalizations at record averages for Va., COVID-19 deaths near record - WAVY.com