5,000th VA Death, Record 5K Daily Coronavirus Cases To End 2020

VIRGINIA — As 2020 ground to an end, Virginia set a record as coronavirus cases topped 5,000 cases in a day on Dec. 31, and the state confirmed 5,032 deaths from COVID-19.

Virginia health officials urged residents to forego New Year's gatherings. "Planning for New Year’s? As #COVID19 cases continue to rise, the safest choices are to stay home and celebrate with the people you live with, or virtually with loved ones elsewhere," the Virginia Department of Health tweeted.

The state noted a single-day record of 5,239 new COVID-19 cases, passing the previous high of 4,782 cases in 24 hours set on Christmas Eve, Inside NOVA reported.

Gov. Ralph Northam cautioned in a tweet: "As we say farewell to 2020, let's all do our part to ring in the new year responsibly. Mask up. Social distance. Wash your hands. Celebrate virtually, or safely with your own household. The choices we make today will impact how we start off 2021."

The statewide seven-day average of positive PCR tests is 13.2 percent as of Dec. 31.

A total of 349,584 coronavirus cases have been reported in the state; 18,041 hospitalizations have been recorded.

Death data is available as both the date of report and by date of death and are updated as amendments to the death records as they are received by VDH. According to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, 2,744 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19; 328 patients are on a ventilator. To date 30,707 confirmed COVID cases have been treated and discharged from the state's hospitals.

Ventilator use among all hospital patients is at 33 percent capacity, with 1,004 of the 3,006 available in use. ICU occupancy is at 78 percent.

As of Thursday, 64,882 vaccine doses have been administered in Virginia, up from 54,295 doses as of Wednesday, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

The agency is tracking COVID-19 vaccination numbers as vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are being distributed around the state under Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization. No one has received the second dose, which both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines require. Pfizer's doses should be taken 21 days apart, and Moderna's doses should be 28 days apart. To date, 227,425 vaccine doses have been distributed around Virginia.

Below are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Tuesday to Wednesday:

• Alexandria: 7,298 7,231 cases, 430 hospitalizations, 87 deaths; increase of 67 cases, one hospitalization
• Arlington County: 8,872 cases, 656 hospitalizations, 180 deaths; increase of 86 cases, one hospitalization
• Fairfax County: 43,977 cases, 2,942 hospitalizations, 679 deaths; increase of 24 cases, 26 hospitalizations
• Fairfax City: 303 cases, 26 hospitalizations, 10 deaths; decrease of one case, increase of one hospitalization
• Falls Church: 176 cases, 17 hospitalizations, six deaths; increase of two cases
• Loudoun County: 14,169 cases, 652 hospitalizations, 159 deaths; increase of 173 cases, nine hospitalizations and one death
• Manassas: 2,887 cases, 147 hospitalizations, 29 deaths; increase of 20 cases
• Manassas Park: 931 cases, 63 hospitalizations, eight deaths; increase of five cases, one hospitalization
• Prince William County: 25,519 cases, 1,222 hospitalizations, 260 deaths; increase of 272 cases, four hospitalizations and four deaths
• Fredericksburg: 1,039 cases, 65 hospitalizations, nine deaths; increase of 18 cases
• Spotsylvania County: 4,797 cases, 211 hospitalizations, 67 deaths; increase of 119 cases
• Stafford County: 5,221 cases, 225 hospitalizations, 24 deaths; increase of 123 cases