Virginia COVID-19 cases spike to daily high of nearly 10000; over 3600 in Northern Virginia – Inside NoVA

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Virginia soared to a one-day record Sunday of nearly 10,000, with over 3,600 of those in Northern Virginia.

Sunday's startling jump to 9,914 new cases reported statewide reflected an increase of more than 3,000 from the prior record of 6,757, set Saturday. No previous day had more than 5,800 new cases reported.

The Virginia Department of Health said the huge two-day weekend surge -- over 16,000 total cases -- was not due to a reporting lag, as has been the case at several other points during the pandemic.

"This increase is likely due to exposures during the holidays, similar to after Thanksgiving. VDH reminds Virginians to be vigilant and use the recommended guidance to prevent the spread of COVID-19," the department said.

The health department has emphasized that case numbers based on when patients first report symptoms is a more accurate measure of the spread of the virus. That data currently show a peak of 4,463 cases on Jan. 4, but those numbers tend to increase as more cases are reported and can lag for several weeks.

Regardless, the huge new numbers reported over the past two days drove the state's seven-day average to a new high of 5,778.4. In Northern Virginia, the 3,678 new cases reported Sunday -- more than 2 1/2 times the prior one-day record -- raised the region's seven-day average to a new high of 1,552.6.

Fairfax County alone reported 1,485 cases on Sunday, and Prince William County reported 1,356. Those two localities have the most total cases of any jurisdiction in the state.

Three other health regions in Virginia set one-day records for new cases on Sunday: the Central region at 2,107, the Eastern region at 1,784, and the Southwest region at 1,328. Only the Northwest region didn't set a one-day record.

The record case numbers come amid concern that vaccine shipments are not going to meet the state's expectations over the next few months. Gov. Ralph Northam has set a short-term goal of administering 25,000 vaccinations a day, growing to 50,000, but state health officials said during a news briefing Saturday that based on current information it could take months for the state to receive enough vaccine doses to meet that target.

As of Sunday morning, the health department's vaccine dashboardshows that the state has received 943,400 doses of the vaccine and administered 316,812. A total of just over 33,000 Virginians have received the two doses required for the vaccines to be fully effective, while about 283,000 have received at least one dose. The state has about 500,000 people in the first tier of vaccinations, which would require about 1 million doses. Over 4 million Virginians are in the first three tiers, requiring more than 8 million doses.

In new modeling released Friday, the Biocomplexity Institute at the University of Virginia said that if the vaccine rollout is slower than expected - coupled with "pandemic fatigue" - the state could see increasing numbers of new cases until April, when numbers would peak at 75,000 a week. If vaccines continue to roll out on schedule and Virginians follow mitigation guidelines, however, cases should peak at around 48,000 a week in early February.

The U.Va. report, however, is based on data through last Monday, so does not take into account the huge two-day surge seen this weekend.

Deaths related to COVID-19 continue to remain high statewide, with 50 reported Saturday and 23 on Sunday. In Northern Virginia, seven new deaths were reported Saturday and one on Sunday. Of those, two apiece were in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, one in Alexandria and one in Arlington County.

SOURCE: Virginia Department of Health

Possibly the only slightly positive sign to come out of the weekend's COVID-19 reports is hospitalizations tracked by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. After peaking at 3,209 patients statewide on Wednesday, they have declined every day and stand at 3,058 on Sunday. That's actually two patients fewer than a week earlier, the first time a week-over-week decline has been seen in several months.

The state has reported the results of over 76,000 diagnostic tests in the past two days, and despite the high numbers of new cases, positivity rates continue to trend downward slowly from highs seen just after the new year.

SOURCE: Virginia Department of Health

LATEST COVID-19DATA

New Cases/Deaths

Northern Virginia: 3,678 new cases, 1 new death.

Statewide: 9,914 new cases, 23 new deaths.

Statewide Testing: 42,583 PCR diagnostic test results.

Overall Total

Northern Virginia: 126,316 cases, 1,512 deaths

Statewide: 439,305 cases, 5,729 deaths

Statewide Testing: 4.81 million PCR diagnostic tests(5.88 million when including antibody and antigen tests)

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) cases: 13

*Provided byVirginia Department of Health.The health department's COVID-19 data is updated each morning by 10 a.m. and includes reports by local health agencies before 5 p.m. the previous day.

Statewide Hospital and Nursing Home Data

Hospitalizations: 3,058 (down from 3,119 the previous day)

Peak Hospitalizations: 3,209 reached Jan. 13

Patients in ICU: 566 (up from 561 the previous day)

Patients Discharged: 35,276 total

*Provided byVirginia Hospital and Healthcare Association

For updated national and international COVID-19 data, visit theJohns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard.

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Virginia COVID-19 cases spike to daily high of nearly 10000; over 3600 in Northern Virginia - Inside NoVA