Over 6 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Administered In Virginia

VIRGINIA — Virginia has surpassed 6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, according to Virginia Department of Health data.

A total of 3,711,978 people have at least one dose, or 43.5 percent of Virginia's estimated 8.5 million people. There are 2,506,040 people fully vaccinated, or 29.4 percent of the population. All people 16 and older are eligible for the vaccine.

"Let's keep it up so we can put this pandemic behind us," Gov. Ralph Northam tweeted about the vaccination milestone.

The governor tweaked his COVID-19 restrictions amid increasing vaccinations and improving health metrics. Changes made last Wednesday now allow socially-distanced bar seating. Additional changes coming on May 15 will increase the indoor social gathering limit from 50 to 100 people and outdoor social gathering limit from 100 to 250 people. There will also be increases to capacity limits in entertainment venues and recreational sporting events, and restaurants will be allowed to have dining rooms and alcohol sales open past midnight. Northam expressed optimism that he could ease restrictions further in June.

Virginia's mask mandate stays put for people 5 and older in shared indoor settings as well as outdoor places where social distancing cannot be maintained. New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared Tuesday indicated fully vaccinated people can gather outdoors without a mask, except in crowded settings. The CDC also previously said vaccinated people can gather indoors without a mask unless with a person at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

Residents can see the full guidelines for vaccinated people from the CDC. Vaccine providers can be found near your ZIP code at vaccinefinder.org.

As the percentage of Virginians with the vaccine increases, COVID-19 cases and the positive rate of tests continue to trend down. The seven-day positive average of PCR tests is 5.1 percent as of April 24. The peak 2021 average had been above 17 percent in the early days of January.

Daily cases are averaging in the 1,000s compared to a peak average over 6,000 in the latter part of January. On Wednesday, 1,120 new cases were reported, bringing the seven-day average to 1,078 daily cases. There were 11 additional deaths reported since Tuesday.

The current hospitalizations have been stable with some daily changes in patients. As of Wednesday, VDH reported 985 current patients, down from 1,006 on Tuesday. That number includes 244 patients in the intensive care units and 132 on ventilators.

The 985 current COVID-19 hospital patients represent about 7.4 percent of the 13,247 occupied hospital beds in Virginia. Ventilator use among all hospital patients is at 28 percent, and ICU occupancy is at 79 percent, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

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

• Alexandria: 11,612 cases, 555 hospitalizations, 133 deaths; increase of 17 cases and two hospitalizations
• Arlington County: 15,045 cases, 829 hospitalizations, 252 deaths; increase of 25 cases and two hospitalizations
• Fairfax County: 75,581 cases, 3,883 hospitalizations, 1,070 deaths; increase of 103 cases and seven hospitalizations
• Fairfax City: 544 cases, 47 hospitalizations, 19 deaths; no changes
• Falls Church: 422 cases, 21 hospitalizations, nine deaths; increase of one hospitalization and one death, one case removed
• Loudoun County: 27,202 cases, 1,030 hospitalizations, 274 deaths; increase of 43 cases and six hospitalizations
• Manassas: 4,297 cases, 169 hospitalizations, 47 deaths; increase of two cases
• Manassas Park: 1,199 cases, 68 hospitalizations, 12 deaths; increase of four cases
• Prince William County: 44,491 cases, 1,600 hospitalizations, 479 deaths; increase of 77 cases
• Fredericksburg: 2,061 cases, 100 hospitalizations, 22 deaths; increase of seven cases and one hospitalizations
• Spotsylvania County: 9,639 cases, 304 hospitalizations, 113 deaths; increase of 43 cases and one hospitalization
• Stafford County: 11,007 cases, 351 hospitalizations, 75 deaths; increase of 28 cases, one hospitalization and one death