Henrico now classified as ‘high’ COVID-19 transmission area
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Henrico County is now classified as a “high” COVID-19 transmission area, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The county had been in the “substantial” level recently, but a surge in new cases the past several days elevated it to the CDC’s highest of four transmission designations – a classification it shares with the majority of localities in the nation, as the delta variant spreads.
Henrico is now averaging 59 new cases a day during the past seven days, though it reported a drop in new cases Thursday – to 57 – following two days of more than 80 apiece. One person has been hospitalized in Henrico each of the past three days with COVID, but no virus-related deaths have been reported in the county since July 28.
The county’s PCR testing positivity rate is up to 7% as of Aug. 1 – slightly higher than the statewide average of 6.8%. Among rapid tests, Henrico’s rate as of the same date was 8.2%, identical to the state’s average.
The CDC strongly recommends that everyone in areas of high or substantial COVID spread – even those who are vaccinated – wear masks indoors, as a way to prevent the continued rapid spread of the delta variant, which is as much as six times more transmissible than the original strain of the virus.
