Daily Vaccine Doses Administered Top 50K In Virginia

VIRGINIA — On Wednesday, Gov. Ralph Northam said Virginia met the goal of 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses given per day.

In January, governor set an initial goal of 25,000 doses being administered per day in Virginia. The second goal was reaching 50,000 doses administered per day.

The Virginia Department of Health keeps tracks of the daily average of vaccine doses given on its COVID-19 dashboard. Wednesday's average is 51,325 doses administered per day.

The day prior, Virginia surpassed 2 million doses administered to date. As of Wednesday, 2,062,403 doses have been given in the state. That includes 1,345,743 people with at least one dose (15.8 percent of Virginia's population), and 716,660 are fully vaccinated (8.4 percent of Virginia's population).

Virginia is also expecting an increase in allocations of the Pfizer and Moderna two-dose vaccines as well as the newly-approved Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. The initial Johnson & Johnson allocation expected in Virginia this week includes 69,000 doses.

Separate allocations go to pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy program, which is helping vaccine priority groups in Virginia. Some are helping the health departments work off their wait lists, such as Walmart hosting vaccination clinics at community sites. Other federal pharmacy partners such as CVS and Safeway have separate registration open to residents 65 and older.

Wait lists of people waiting for vaccine appointments still remain due to limited supply of doses. For example, the Fairfax County Health Department's wait list is over 99,000 out of over 276,000 who have registered so far.

Virginians can preregister for the vaccine, regardless of current eligibility, at vaccinate.virginia.gov. They will be notified by their local health department when eligible and appointments become available. Residents in the Fairfax Health District (Fairfax County and cities of Falls Church and Fairfax) should continue using the local health department's form, and only those eligible in phase 1a or phase 1b can register at this time.

Phase 1a includes health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff. Phase 1b includes certain essential worker groups, people 65 and over, people 16 to 64 with underlying health conditions or disabilities, and people living in homeless shelters, correctional facilities and migrant labor camps.

COVID-19 data

On Wednesday, 1,549 new coronavirus cases were reported in Virginia, bringing the cumulative total to 580,108.

A record-high 383 deaths were added to the total on Wednesday. VDH has been adding a large number of deaths in recent days as it processes 2021 death certificates associated with the post-holiday surge of cases. The cumulative total of deaths is 9,326.

Current hospitalizations stand at 1,352 statewide, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. That includes 1,134 who are confirmed positive and 218 with pending test results. There are 284 COVID-19 patients in the intensive care units and 184 on ventilators. Ventilator use among all hospital patients is at 31 percent, and ICU occupancy is at 79 percent.

The seven-day average of positive PCR tests stands at 6.6 percent statewide as of Feb. 27, down from a peak of 17.4 percent on Jan. 3. An average of 21,526 testing encounters are reported daily, down from a peak of 35,028 on Jan. 14.

At the time of publication, Virginia's key measures data was not available due to a server error. The key measures page provides seven-day averages and daily numbers for cases, hospitalizations, deaths and more.

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

• Alexandria: 10,384 cases, 511 hospitalizations, 123 deaths; increase of 32 cases and three deaths
• Arlington County: 13,255 cases, 775 hospitalizations, 235 deaths; increase of 40 cases, five hospitalizations and three deaths
• Fairfax County: 67,003 cases, 3,528 hospitalizations, 985 deaths; increase of 178 cases, nine hospitalizations and 29 deaths
• Fairfax City: 492 cases, 37 hospitalizations, 13 deaths; no changes
• Falls Church: 352 cases, 20 hospitalizations, eight deaths; increase of one death, one case removed
• Loudoun County: 23,221 cases, 878 hospitalizations, 249 deaths; increase of 38 cases, six hospitalizations and three deaths
• Manassas: 4,012 cases, 162 hospitalizations, 41 deaths; increase of two cases and one death
• Manassas Park: 1,127 cases, 66 hospitalizations and 11 deaths; increase of one case
• Prince William County: 39,570 cases, 1,391 hospitalizations, 441 deaths; increase of 98 cases, one hospitalization and 17 deaths
• Fredericksburg: 1,785 cases, 93 hospitalizations, 22 deaths; increase of one death
• Spotsylvania County: 8,367 cases, 283 hospitalizations, 102 deaths; increase of 26 cases, two hospitalizations and two deaths
• Stafford County: 9,644 cases, 311 hospitalizations, 68 deaths; increase of 24 cases and one hospitalization