Average daily COVID case count climbs in Henrico, but rates of hospitalization, death remain low

Henrico County reported 87 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 this weekend – 33 Saturday and 54 Sunday – and another 43 Monday, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

The county’s moving 7-day average of new daily cases rose slightly Sunday, to 46, as a result.

Sunday’s total marked the fourth time since Oct. 21 that Henrico reported more than 50 cases in a single day, the first time that has happened since a two-week period from late July to early August.

The number of hospitalizations in Henrico related to the virus, however, has remained relatively stable for the past four-and-a-half months, roughly averaging between one and three per day. The average is at three as of Monday, following two consecutive days with five new hospitalizations apiece.

The number of deaths in the county attributed to the virus also has remained relatively stable for several months, ranging between zero and two during any given day in a moving 7-day period in that time. The average currently sits at one per day.

The majority of the 24 deaths in Henrico attributed to COVID during October actually happened earlier in the summer or fall, according to VDH officials.

Henrico’s 7-day positivity percentage is now 4.8% as of Oct. 29, the most recent date for which the information is available. It was 3.5% Oct. 1.

Henrico is averaging nearly 780 PCR tests per day during the same 7-day period. Testing levels in the county have ranged generally between about 600 and 1,200 per day since mid-July, with the lower peaks occurring in mid-August and mid-September and the highest occurring in late September.

Statewide, the 7-day positivity percentage is 5.8%, up from 4.6% Oct. 8.