After brief downward trend, new COVID cases in Henrico rise again

Following four days of encouraging downward trends in new COVID-19 cases, Henrico County’s numbers went back up Friday, as the Virginia Department of Health reported 140 new cases in the county, along with eight new virus-related hospitalizations and one death.

The county had witnessed four straight days with fewer than 100 new cases each before Friday’s totals. Henrico now has witnessed nearly 10,500 total confirmed cases of the virus.

The county’s 7-day PCR positivity percentage is up to 9.5% as of Dec. 15, while the same percentage for antigen (rapid) tests is 9.1% as of Dec. 14. An average of 1,215 PCR tests and 440 rapid tests have been conducted daily during the past week in Henrico.

The new death reported Friday occurred in a person older than 80 and was the 272nd death in the county attributed to the virus.

– Will Gonzalez contributed to this article