Va. sees fewer new COVID-19 cases, deaths last week

Positivity rate is 7.2%, although rural localities are seeing higher rates

Published September 14, 2020 by Kate Andrews

Virginia recorded 6,164 new COVID-19 cases and 57 fatalities from Sept. 8-14, bringing state totals to 134,571 cases and 2,743 deaths, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The state’s positivity rate is 7.2%, down from 7.7% last week.

Several universities are reporting COVID-19 rates among students, faculty and staff members, although the universities are using different methods. Some are reporting daily, while others are providing weekly updates. James Madison University closed its campus in early September due to a high number of new cases, with tentative plans to reopen in October, and Virginia Tech indefinitely postponed its football game scheduled Saturday against the University of Virginia in Blacksburg due to positive cases among its team. Here are the most current university stats:

James Madison University: 748 total self-reported positive cases (since Aug. 17); 568 positive tests reported by health center (since July 1), with a total of 1,316 cases. The overall positivity rate (since July 1) is 26.1% as of Sept. 14.
Virginia Tech: 711 positive tests since Aug. 3, with 208 new cases from Sept. 7 to Sept. 13. The seven-day moving average positivity rate as of Sept. 13 is 29.71%.
University of Virginia: 321 positive cases among students and employees reported from Aug. 17 to Sept. 11. Current positivity rate is 17.14% as of Sept. 10.
Virginia Commonwealth University: 218 student cases as of Sept. 14; 23 employee cases as of Sept. 14. According to prevalence testing, the positivity rate is 0.5% as of Sept. 14.
Old Dominion University: 51 positive cases out of 1,683 tests performed as of Sept. 14.
George Mason University: 29 positive cases among students and employees between July 30 and Sept. 11.
Radford University: 357 total positive cases among students and employees as of Sept. 7, with 64 new cases since Sept. 1. Overall positivity rate is 12.26% as of Sept. 7, the last time the dashboard was updated.

Meanwhile, some regions around the state still report relatively high rates, but conditions have improved in Hampton Roads since July, when it saw a significant spike in infections. After six weeks of stronger restrictions on restaurants and a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people in the region, Gov. Ralph Northam declared last week that Hampton Roads localities could rejoin the rest of the state in Phase Three of his reopening plan. The governor is scheduled to give an update Tuesday afternoon, which will be livestreamed on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Here are the health districts with higher than 10% positivity rates as of Sept. 14:

Central Shenandoah (Augusta, Bath, Highland, Rockbridge and Rockingham counties, and the cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton and Waynesboro): 14.7% (down from 15.8% Sept. 8)
Chickahominy (Charles City, Goochland, Hanover and New Kent counties): 11.6% (down from 11.8%)
Lenowisco (Lee, Wise and Scott counties and the city of Norton): 12% (up from 10.9%)
Mount Rogers (Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth, Washington and Wythe counties, and the cities of Bristol and Galax): 11.1% (down from 11.9%)
New River (Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski counties and the city of Radford): 10.1% (down from 15.2%)
Southside (Brunswick, Halifax and Mecklenburg counties): 12.1% (down from 13.7%)
West Piedmont (Martinsville and Franklin, Henry and Patrick counties): 16.1% (up from 15.7%)

These are the 10 Virginia localities that have seen the most cases in the state, as of Sept. 14:

Fairfax County: 19,658
Prince William County: 11,688
Virginia Beach: 6,482
Loudoun County: 6,449
Chesterfield County: 5,558
Henrico County: 5,068
Norfolk: 4,651
Richmond: 4,336
Chesapeake: 4,086
Arlington County: 3,741

Globally, there are 29 million reported COVID-19 cases and 924,953 confirmed deaths as of Sept. 14. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 6.52 million confirmed cases so far, with 194,107 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February.

Below is the latest data from VDH: