Virginia's COVID-19 Case Average Rises After Hitting Pandemic Low

VIRGINIA — Virginia has seen an increase in its seven-day moving average of COVID-19 cases over the past several days, even as its state of emergency expired at midnight on Wednesday.

On Friday, the state’s seven-day moving average was 182 cases per day, an increase from a 128 case average on June 20, a record low since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Local doctors are seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases even among fully vaccinated people, which officials have said is likely due to the new Delta variant.

On June 18, the Virginia Department of Health added the Delta variant to the variants of concern dashboard. The state has reported 67 cases of the Delta variant as of Friday.

“This variant can spread more easily and might cause more severe illness than others,” the VDH said of the Delta variant in a news release Thursday. “Although current COVID-19 vaccines appear to be effective against the Delta variant, additional mitigation measures (such as wearing masks, keeping distance from others, washing hands frequently, and cleaning surfaces) help lower risk even more.”

As of Friday, 163 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, while 84 more patients are hospitalized and waiting for results of a COVID-19 test, according to data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

RELATED: Virginia's COVID-19 State Of Emergency Comes To An End

The state has vaccinated 59.1 percent of its population with at least one dose of the shot, while 50.9 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the VDH.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend mask-wearing in indoor public places to anyone aged 2 or older who is not fully vaccinated, as well as anyone with a weakened immune system regardless of their vaccination status.

“Public health officials encourage Virginians to continue to wear masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and allowed by law,” VDH said in its news release. “There is no legal barrier to wearing masks to protect oneself and others from the virus, nor should anyone be penalized from doing so.”

While Virginia law prohibits wearing a mask to conceal one’s identity, the VDH said, it does not prohibit wearing a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

This remains true even though Virginia is no longer under a statewide declaration of emergency, the VDH said.