COVID positivity rate continues to climb in VA; Governor updates commonwealth

Governor Ralph Northam spoke to the commonwealth about the coronavirus Tuesday; watch his briefing above.

The governor continues to urge people who are not vaccinated to get vaccinated, saying most of the people still contracting serious cases of COVID are not vaccinated.

He has issued a mandate for state workers to be vaccinated by September 1:

Governor: Most state workers must be vaccinated or tested

Northam said it’s important to understand the delta variant is different from earlier instances of COVID, in that it’s much more easily transmissible and can make people sicker faster. He says the only way to beat it is with vaccination.

He said, “It breaks my heart to see people getting sick, getting hospitalized, and dying from a preventable disease for most people.”

He said since January, 99% of COVID cases are people who are not fully vaccinated, and that nearly all recent deaths are of people who have not been vaccinated.

To find out where to get vaccinated go to vaccinate.virginia.gov or call 877-VAXINVA (877-829-4682).

To people who have hesitated, he said, “I hope you will listen to me and hear me; the time for waiting is over.”

He said millions of people have been vaccinated and “we are fine.” He urged the public to “protect yourself and the people around you.”

Northam said many parents are concerned about kids going back to school, partially since there still isn’t FDA authorization for kids under 12 to be vaccinated. He said local school divisions are taking the lead with mask-wearing, and he expects them to follow the law passed this year saying districts must offer in-person instruction five days a week.

RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) - The Virginia Department of Health is reporting 702,819 total cases of COVID-19 across the commonwealth as of Thursday, August 5, 2021, dating to the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. That’s up 1,760 from the 701,058 reported Wednesday, a larger increase than the 1,716 reported from Tuesday to Wednesday.

NOTE: VDH is now only updating the cases and testing dashboard Monday through Friday.

Per the latest update from the state’s vaccine dashboard, 9,503,629 doses of vaccine have been administered in Virginia as of Thursday, up from the 9,486,377 reported Wednesday. 60.9% of the state’s population has gotten at least one dose, with 54.3% fully vaccinated. 72.8% of Virginians 18 and over have received at least one dose and 65.4% are fully vaccinated.

Click here for the latest statewide guidance.

VDH website offers COVID vaccine info

VDH unveils dashboard to show results of COVID cases by vaccination status

VACCINE INFO: What you need to know in southwest Virginia

COVID-19 map tracks current hot spots

8,056,420 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests have been conducted in Virginia as of Thursday, with a 6.8% positivity rate from those tests over the last week, up from the 6.5% reported Wednesday.

As of Thursday, there have been 11,546 recorded coronavirus-related deaths in the commonwealth since the pandemic’s beginning, up from the 11,541 reported Wednesday.

669 people across Virginia were hospitalized as of Thursday with confirmed or test-pending cases of COVID-19, up from the 668 reported Wednesday. 58,366 COVID patients have been released from hospitals in Virginia since the beginning of the pandemic. That’s according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, which gets a daily report from hospitals around the commonwealth.

These hospital numbers are different from those reported by VDH, which only gathers hospitalization status at the time each case is investigated by VDH and is an under-representation of Virginia hospitalizations.

Any new confirmed cases from health departments throughout the state the rest of the day won’t show up until at least the following day on the state list, as the official numbers are only updated once a day, with a 5 p.m. cutoff each day for new cases to be reflected on the next day’s list.