Number of COVID-19 cases continues upward climb in Virginia

Weekly increase in cases driven by Hampton Roads region

Published July 20, 2020 by Kate Andrews

COVID-19 cases continued to increase statewide last week at a higher rate than the previous week, with 6,733 more people testing positive since July 13.

Over the past month, the weekly rate has climbed from 3,724 the last week of June to 5,540 new cases between July 6 and 13, according to the Virginia Department of Health. As of Monday, July 20, the state has 78,375 coronavirus cases total and 2,031 deaths, an increase of 68 fatalities from last week. That marks a significant slowdown in new virus-related deaths, which were exceeding 100 a week over the past month.

As of July 16, the seven-day positivity rate statewide is 7.7%, an increase from 6.8% last week. As reported last week, the most dramatic surges are in the Hampton Roads area.

Portsmouth has the highest positivity rate in the state, at 15.9%, followed by Norfolk at 15.4%. Chesapeake’s current rate is 13.8%.

Virginia Beach has a 12% positivity rate, Hampton is at 12.2%, and the Peninsula Health District is at 10.8%. The most-affected average age is also younger than earlier in the pandemic, with the majority of cases now falling between the ages of 20 and 39, although hospitalizations and deaths continue to occur more often with older patients, typically over the age of 60.

Last week, Gov. Ralph Northam declared that the health department and Virginia ABC will conduct drop-in visits to businesses to make sure they’re following safety rules, including customers and employees wearing masks and not allowing people to gather at bars. He said much of the state’s enforcement focus will be in Hampton Roads, which saw its number of daily cases rise more than five-fold over the past month, from an average of 60 cases to 346 a day.

These are the Virginia localities that have seen 400 or more total cases, as of July 20:

Fairfax County: 14,934
Prince William County: 8,190
Loudoun County: 4,670
Chesterfield County: 3,472
Henrico County: 3,058
Arlington County: 2,737
Virginia Beach: 2,720
Richmond: 2,588
Alexandria: 2,559
Norfolk: 2,214
Chesapeake: 1,758
Manassas: 1,530
Newport News: 1,206
Spotsylvania County: 1,154
Stafford County: 1,128
Accomack County: 1,053
Harrisonburg: 1,009
Portsmouth: 1,009
Culpeper County: 900
Rockingham County: 829
Suffolk: 757
Hampton: 723
Roanoke: 659
Shenandoah County: 650
Albemarle County: 628
Frederick County: 597
Buckingham County: 584
Fauquier County: 530
Hanover County: 518
Manassas Park: 473
James City County: 452

Globally, there are 14.56 million reported COVID-19 cases and 607,187 confirmed deaths as of July 20. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 3.79 million confirmed cases so far, with 140,716 deaths nationwide attributed to the coronavirus since February.

Below is the latest data from VDH: