Henrico again shatters single-day COVID-19 case total

Henrico set another single-day record for new COVID-19 cases Wednesday with 624 – nearly 200 more than its previous single-day high of 434 (set Christmas Day) and nearly twice as many as its prior high mark of 326 (set Jan. 16).

The story was similar at the state level, too; Virginia reported 12,112 new cases – surpassing its previous single-day high by almost 2,200, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Henrico is now averaging 385 new daily cases during the past seven days – more than two and a half times as many as it was just one week ago and three and a half times as many as two weeks ago.

Henrico’s average of 1,151 new cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks is about 21% higher than the statewide average of 953 during the same timeframe.

The rising numbers are not unexpected, given the ease with which the new Omicron variant spreads and the fact that cases were expected to rise after the Christmas holiday, when many people gathered in groups indoors.

Hospitalizations and deaths, two metrics that typically lag days or weeks behind new cases, remained low and steady in Henrico Wednesday. The county continues to average just one new hospitalization per day and less than half a death per day, after reporting one new incidence of each.

Statewide, though, the number of new deaths reported Tuesday spiked to 185 after having not eclipsed 66 on a single day in the past three months.

Henrico’s seven-day positivity percentage among PCR testing encounters is 16% (lower than the statewide average of 17.7%, while the percentage among rapid testing encounters is 21% (higher than the statewide average of 17.7%).

At a Richmond and Henrico Health Districts testing event held Wednesday at the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, officials ran out of tests and had to turn some people away. The RHHD later Wednesday announced that it would add more testing events next week, including:

• Jan. 4 at Second Baptist Church, 3300 Broad Rock Boulevard in Richmond, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.;

• Jan. 5 at Highland Springs Community Center, 16 South Ivy Avenue in Highland Springs, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.;

• Jan. 7 at Diversity Thrift, 1407 Sherwood Avenue in Richmond, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

For details, call (804) 205-3501 or visit http://www.rchd.com.