24 Virginia Health Districts Remain In Phase 1b Of Vaccinations

VIRGINIA — Health districts outside the immediate Northern Virginia area have started phase 1c of COVID-19 vaccinations.

According to the Virginia Department of Health's phase tracker, the Lord Fairfax, Rappahannock Rapidan, and Rappahannock health districts are among the health districts in phase 1c. All of Northern Virginia's health districts —Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Alexandria, and Loudoun — remain in phase 1b.

Across Virginia, 11 health districts are in phase 1c, and 24 are in phase 1b. VDH expects all Virginia health districts to be in phase 1c by mid-April and start phase 2 (all Virginians 16 and older) by May 1.

Health districts began Phase 1b on varying dates in January following phase 1a vaccinations of health care workers and long-term care facility residents. Phase 1b includes people 65 and older, people 16 to 64 with a qualifying underlying condition, certain essential workers, and people living in correctional facilities, homeless shelters or migrant labor camps. Phase 1c includes other essential worker groups.

During a call with reporters last week, Dr. Danny Avula, the state's vaccine coordinator, indicated more vaccine supply will shift to areas with higher vaccine interest, such as Northern Virginia.

As of Tuesday, 2,467,219 people in Virginia have at least one vaccine dose (28.9 percent of the population), and 1,320,424 are fully vaccinated (15.5 percent of the population). The state is averaging 61,681 doses administered per day.

New study on Moderna and Pfizer vaccines

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released study findings for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine effectiveness in a worker setting. The study included nearly 4,000 health care personnel, first responders, and other essential workers between December 2020 and March 2021 in eight U.S. cities with weekly COVID-19 testing.

While clinical trials showed approximately 95 percent effectiveness for both vaccines, the new study found 90 percent effectiveness in preventing COVID-19 infection for fully vaccinated workers. Full immunization is considered to be over 14 days after the second dose. In addition, the study found partial immunization (greater than 14 days after the first dose provided vaccine effectiveness of 80 percent.

"These interim vaccine effectiveness findings for both PfizerBioNTech’s and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines in real-world conditions complement and expand upon the vaccine effectiveness estimates from other recent studies...and demonstrate that current vaccination efforts are resulting in substantial preventive benefits among working-age adults," the study concluded. "They reinforce CDC’s recommendation of full 2-dose immunization with mRNA vaccines."

Vaccinations in nursing homes

Vaccinations appear to be having an impact on nursing homes, which account for a significant portion of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. On Tuesday, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living released a report indicating U.S. nursing homes continue to see a significant decline in cases and deaths.

During the week of Dec. 20, new COVID-19 cases among nursing home residents totaled 33,540. By comparison, cases during the week of March 7 totaled 1,349, representing a 96 percent decline.

Similarly, deaths have been trending down. During the week of Dec. 20, COVID-related deaths in nursing homes totaled 6,037. For the week of March 7, deaths totaled 547, a 91 percent decline.

These nursing home case and death numbers are based on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data.

COVID-19 data

On Tuesday, 1,432 additional COVID-19 cases were reported in Virginia, bringing the seven-day average to 1,530. The daily case average has seen a slight uptick in the latter part of March after declining from mid-January to early March. There were 23 new deaths reported Tuesday, bringing the cumulative total to 10,242.

The positive average of PCR tests stands at 5.8 percent statewide as of March 26. This seven-day average has flattened out with minimal changes after declining from early January to early March. On average, 17,763 PCR testing encounters are reported each day.

Current COVID-19 hospitalizations stand at 1,069, including 231 in the intensive care units and 128 on ventilators. COVID-19 patients account for about 8.3 percent of all occupied hospital beds in Virginia. Ventilator use among all hospital patients is at 28 percent, and ICU occupancy is at 73 percent, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

Here are latest coronavirus data updates for our coverage area from Monday to Tuesday:

• Alexandria: 10,924 cases, 531 hospitalizations, 128 deaths; increase of 12 cases
• Arlington County: 14,188 cases, 799 hospitalizations, 245 deaths; increase of 32 cases and four hospitalizations
• Fairfax County: 71,314 cases, 3,696 hospitalizations, 1,038 deaths; increase of 115 cases and five hospitalizations
• Fairfax City: 521 cases, 41 hospitalizations, 18 deaths; no changes
• Falls Church: 389 cases, 20 hospitalizations, 10 deaths; two cases removed
• Loudoun County: 25,221 cases, 945 hospitalizations, 269 deaths; increase of 85 cases
• Manassas: 4,156 cases, 166 hospitalizations, 45 deaths; increase of four cases
• Manassas Park: 1,169 cases, 67 hospitalizations, 12 deaths; increase of one case
• Prince William County: 41,873 cases, 1,510 hospitalizations, 468 deaths; increase of 93 cases and four hospitalizations
• Fredericksburg: 1,876 cases, 95 hospitalizations, 22 deaths; increase of seven cases
• Spotsylvania County: 8,840 cases, 287 hospitalizations, 107 deaths; increase of 22 cases
• Stafford County: 10,132 cases, 336 hospitalizations, 69 deaths; increase of 23 cases