Average number of new COVID-19 cases in Henrico has nearly doubled since Thanksgiving week

The average number of new daily COVID-19 cases in Henrico has nearly doubled since the day before Thanksgiving, according to Virginia Department of Health data.

The county is now witnessing 99 new daily cases during the past seven days – up from 52 a day Nov. 24 and just 34 a day two weeks prior to that.

The post-Thanksgiving surge was not unexpected, following large gatherings of people indoors. In the past two weeks, the county is averaging nearly 346 new cases per 100,000 residents – more than the statewide average of 307 during that same time.

So far this month, Henrico has reported five COVID-related hospitalizations and three COVID-related deaths but also had one such death removed from its ledger as part of a data correction. It’s unclear whether that was one of the three or an earlier death.

Henrico’s seven-day positivity percentage among PCD testing encounters (7.1%) is below the statewide average of 7.4%, but the county and state both have a 7.7% positivity rate among rapid testing encounters.

All but about a dozen of Virginia’s cities and counties are back in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s “high” transmission risk category. Henrico had spent three weeks in the lower “substantial” category last month but now has been back in the former category – the highest of four – for the past three weeks, according to the VDH.

Nearly 75% of all adults 18 and older in Henrico are now fully vaccinated, and about 25% of all adults in the county also have received their booster shots.

Overall, 71.4% of all Henrico residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 64.2% are fully vaccinated.

Children ages 5 to 11 have been eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine for just more than one month, and in Henrico, more than 7,300 of them (or about 26% of that population in the county) have had at least one dose, while almost 3,000 of that number are fully vaccinated.