COVID-19 rates stay steady statewide, with spikes at some colleges

Virginia Tech, JMU see big increases since last week.

Published September 8, 2020 by Kate Andrews

Virginia had 7,813 new COVID-19 cases and 106 deaths from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8, according to the Virginia Department of Health, with the state’s positivity rate at 7.7%, up .3% from the previous week.

The new totals are 128,407 cases and 2,686 deaths since March.

Several universities have started reporting COVID-19 rates among students, faculty and staff members, although they’re using different methods. Some are reporting daily, while others are providing weekly updates. Here is a sample:

James Madison University: 624 total self-reported positive cases (since Aug. 17); 441 positive tests reported by health center (since July 1). Current positivity rate is 41.29% as of Sept. 7.
Virginia Tech: 503 positive tests as of Sept. 4.
University of Virginia: 227 positive cases among students and employees reported from Aug. 17 to Sept. 7. Current positivity rate is 14.71% as of Sept. 6.
Virginia Commonwealth University: 195 student cases as of Sept. 7; 17 employee cases as of Sept. 7. According to prevalence testing, the positivity rate is 0.7% as of Sept. 7.
Old Dominion University: 16 positive cases out of 1,252 tests performed as of Sept. 2.
George Mason University: 22 positive cases among students and employees between Aug. 16 and Sept. 4.
Radford University: 195 new positive cases among students and employees as of Aug. 30. Overall positivity rate is 11.14% as of Sept. 1.

JMU sent students home last week after seeing a spike in cases, with tentative plans for them to return in October. The university plans to notify students of its decision by Sept. 25. Other universities are continuing with their in-person and online hybrid plans, while watching COVID-19 positivity rates, according to recent news reports.

Meanwhile, some regions around the state still report relatively high rates, and restrictions are still in place in Hampton Roads localities prohibiting restaurants from selling alcohol after 10 p.m. and requiring them to close by midnight, while gatherings of more than 50 people are not allowed.

Here are the health districts with higher than 10% positivity rates as of Sept. 8:

Central Shenandoah (Augusta, Bath, Highland, Rockbridge and Rockingham counties, and the cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton and Waynesboro): 15.8% (up from 10.8% Aug. 31)
Crater (Dinwiddie, Emporia, Greensville, Hopewell, Petersburg, Prince George, Surry and Sussex): 10.4% (down from 11.8%)
Lenowisco (Lee, Wise and Scott counties and the city of Norton): 10.9% (up from 9.5%)
Mount Rogers (Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth, Washington and Wythe counties, and the cities of Bristol and Galax): 11.9% (up from 11.7%)
New River (Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski counties and the city of Radford): 15.2% (down from 15.3%)
Pittsylvania-Danville: 15.0% (up from 14.8%)
Portsmouth: 10.6% (down from 11.5%)
Southside (Brunswick, Halifax and Mecklenburg counties): 13.7% (up from 12.1%)
West Piedmont (Martinsville and Franklin, Henry and Patrick counties): 15.7% (up from 15.1%)
Western Tidewater (Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, cities of Franklin and Suffolk): 12.3% (up from 11.8%)

These are the 10 Virginia localities that have seen the most cases in the state, as of Sept. 8:

Fairfax County: 19,055
Prince William County: 11,253
Virginia Beach: 6,226
Loudoun County: 6,223
Chesterfield County: 5,264
Henrico County: 4,806
Norfolk: 4,533
Richmond: 4,153
Chesapeake: 3,946
Arlington County: 3,640

Globally, there are 27.3 million reported COVID-19 cases and 893,382 confirmed deaths as of Sept. 8. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 6.3 million confirmed cases so far, with 189,236 deaths nationwide attributed to the coronavirus since February.

Below is the latest data from VDH: