Holsworth: Sept. 29, 2020, Virginia Covid-19 Update
By Dr. Bob Holsworth
Editor’s note: Bearing Drift is grateful to Dr. Bob Holsworth for permission to share his daily Virginia coronavirus updates. For more, follow him on Facebook.
1. Hospitalizations Continue Downward Move
The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) reported today that there are 890 COVID-19 patients in hospitals. This is down from 965 in my last report 4 days ago and down from 940 one week ago. Two weeks ago, we were at 1015.
2. Case Increase and Test Positivity Rates Continues Downward Trends
In my last report, I noted that case increases for the past 3 days averaged 808. Over the last 4 days, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) reports that case increases have averaged 776.
In addition, the test positivity rate has fallen below 5% for the first time since VDH started providing this statistic. Today, it was 4.6%, compared to 5.1% in my report 4 days ago.
3. Weekly Death Rates Still Over 125 (probably due to reporting lags)
VDH reports that there were 127 COVID-19 deaths in the last 7 days. The department says this is due to a lag in obtaining death certificate data.
4. Virginia and the Nation
Johns Hopkins University reports that Virginia ranks 15th highest in the nation in terms of total cases, 32nd in cases per 100,000 population, and 26th in deaths.
At the moment, Virginia’s downward trend is clearly better than we are hearing about half the states in which cases are increasing.
