COVID explosion: Henrico witnesses its 3 highest single-day case counts

An explosion of new confirmed COVID-19 cases since Saturday has resulted in Henrico’s three highest single-day case counts since the pandemic began.

Since Saturday, Henrico has totaled 932 new cases – 326 Saturday, 320 Sunday and 286 Monday. The county’s previous single-day high was 236 on New Year’s Day. It didn’t witness a day with more than 180 cases in 2020.

During the same timeframe, the county reported three new deaths related to the virus. Eight new virus-related hospitalizations also were reported in the county Monday, increasing the average daily number of new hospitalizations during the past week among county residents to four.

The significant jump in new confirmed cases was not just a Henrico trend, but rather a statewide one. Virginia Department of Health officials attributed it to holiday gatherings, whose impact is now being felt.

The county is now averaging 228 new confirmed cases each day during the past seven days, according to the VDH. Overall, Henrico has confirmed more than 16,100 cases during the pandemic.

The county's seven-day positivity percentage fell to 11.5% among PCR testing encounters and to 9.2% among rapid testing encounters for the week ending Jan. 14. Those metrics lag several days behind the current day, as a way to allow for as much data to be gathered about tests and results as possible. The most recent percentages do not take into consideration the positive cases from the past three days.

Overall, Henrico was averaging just more than 2,500 PCR and rapid tests a day as of Jan. 14 – about 400 more daily tests that it had been averaging Jan. 7.