Virginia Moving Supplies To Areas With Higher Vaccine Acceptance

VIRGINIA — Virginia is on track to open up COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to all residents at the end of April, according to Dr. Danny Avula, coordinator of Virginia’s COVID-19 vaccine program.

Speaking Friday during a telephone press conference, Avula said Virginia received 49,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week. He predicts supplies of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will increase to about 150,000 doses per week in April.

Virginia also received 252,000 Pfizer doses this week, what Avula called an “unexpected surprise.” The state also received 164,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

During the press conference, Avula said people’s interest in getting vaccinated varies based on locality.

Leaders in Northern Virginia wrote a letter to Gov. Ralph Northam asking for an increase in vaccine supply last week. The county and city officials explained to the governor that the infrastructure is in place across the region to ramp up the pace of vaccinations.

“Communities like Northern Virginia and the greater Richmond area, not only do they have more people but a demographic that is more interested in getting vaccinated, so we are shifting allocations to those communities because we really are trying to get everyone to phase two,” Avula said Friday.

Northern Virginia could potentially see an increase of 20 percent to 30 percent in vaccine allocation in the coming weeks.

Avula said the state's mass vaccination site in the city of Danville is being scaled down due to limited demand that he attributed to a combination of hesitancy and access. He cited survey data showing more hesitancy among Republicans to get the vaccine, as well as access-related challenges, such as the lack of mass transportation in rural areas.

As of Saturday, 1,222,047 Virginians, or 14.3 percent of the state's population, were fully vaccinated. According to Virginia Department of Health data, 3,403,097 total doses have been administered, with 2,265,098 people, or 26.5 percent of the state's population, receiving at least their first dose.

The state is averaging 54,376 doses administered per day. Local health departments lead the state with 1,075,732 total doses given, followed by hospitals with 779,367 total doses. Pharmacies have administered a total of 710,849 vaccines. Medical practices are next with 502,334 doses administered followed by community health providers at 334,815.

All Virginians, except those in the Fairfax Health District, can preregister for the vaccine at vaccinate.virginia.gov. Fairfax County and cities of Falls Church and Fairfax residents eligible in the current phases 1a or 1b should continue to register through the local health department.

High Transmission Rates In Most Of NoVA

In its latest report, the White House COVID-19 Team replaced the County and Metro Alerts with Community Transmission by County and Metro Area.

A large part of Northern Virginia remains in the most severe category, or the "red zone," where counties are experiencing "high transmission" rates of the coronavirus, according to the report released Tuesday.

Among Northern Virginia jurisdictions, only Fairfax County and the cities of Manassas and Falls Church are in the second most severe category, or the "orange zone," where there is "substantial transmission" of the coronavirus.

High transmission is defined as counties that during the previous week reported 100 or more cases per 100,000 population, or a lab test positivity at or above 10.0 percent. Substantial transmission is defined as jurisdictions that during the previous week reported from 50 to 99 cases per 100,000 population, or a lab test positivity from 8.0 percent to 9.9 percent.

Virginia has the 13th-highest coronavirus percent positivity rate among its residents, the same national ranking as the week before, according to the report. South Dakota, New Jersey, Idaho and Nebraska lead the nation with the highest percent positivity rates.

COVID-19 Data

The Virginia Department of Health reported a 5.7-percent coronavirus positivity rate on Saturday from coronavirus tests performed on residents over the past seven days. The positivity rate has inched up after reaching a 2021 low of 5.4 percent on March 12.

The positive rate is far below the 2021 high of 17.4 percent reported on Jan. 3 by the VDH. In the two months after reaching 17.4 percent in early January, the state reported more than 3,000 deaths from COVID-19.

Since the start of the pandemic, the all-time high of the seven-day coronavirus positivity rate was 20.2 percent on April 20, 2020.

On average, 18,699 daily PCR testing encounters were reported statewide on March 23, down from a peak of 35,034 on Jan. 14.

On Saturday, 1,912 additional COVID-19 cases were reported by VDH, and the seven-day average of daily cases was 1,461. Northern Virginia accounted for 499 new cases and has a seven-day average of 399 daily cases.

An additional 24 COVID-19 deaths were reported Saturday, bringing the death total to 10,178.

Virginia's COVID-19 hospitalizations stand at 993 statewide as of Saturday, down from 997 Friday. The current count includes 238 patients in intensive care units and 131 on ventilators.

Ventilator use among all hospital patients is at 30 percent, and ICU occupancy is at 78 percent, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

Below are the latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Friday to Saturday:

• Alexandria: 10,875 cases, 531 hospitalizations, 128 deaths; increase of 25 cases, three hospitalizations and one death
• Arlington County: 14,081 cases, 795 hospitalizations, 245 deaths; increase of 39 cases and one death
• Fairfax County: 70,898 cases, 3,681 hospitalizations, 1,036 deaths; increase of 220 cases, two hospitalizations and two deaths
• Fairfax City: 511 cases, 41 hospitalizations, 17 deaths; one case removed
• Falls Church: 384 cases, 20 hospitalizations, 10 deaths; increase of two cases
• Loudoun County: 25,011 cases, 943 hospitalizations, 268 deaths; increase of 87 cases, four hospitalizations and three deaths
• Manassas: 4,147 cases, 166 hospitalizations, 45 deaths; increase of 10 cases
• Manassas Park: 1,167 cases, 67 hospitalizations, 12 deaths; no changes
• Prince William County: 41,618 cases, 1,506 hospitalizations, 467 deaths; increase of 110 cases and two hospitalizations
• Fredericksburg: 1,861 cases, 95 hospitalizations, 22 deaths; increase of five cases
• Spotsylvania County: 8,769 cases, 287 hospitalizations, 107 deaths; increase of 32 cases and one hospitalization
• Stafford County: 10,081 cases, 336 hospitalizations, 68 deaths; increase of 22 cases