Children 9 and younger accounted for the most COVID-19 cases in Henrico during the past week

On a day when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full licensure to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Henrico County’s incidence of new daily COVID cases climbed above 100.

The county is now averaging 106 new confirmed daily cases during the past seven days, following the occurrence of 454 new cases during a four-day period from Saturday through Tuesday – and children 9 and younger have accounted for the most cases of any age group in the county in the past week.

A total of 143 new cases were reported Saturday in the county, followed by two consecutive days of 96 new cases and then 119 Tuesday, according to Virginia Department of Health data. A total of two new deaths (both among people 80 or older) and seven new virus-related hospitalizations (including one among someone in his or her 30s and two among people in their 40s) also were reported among county residents during those four days.

In the past seven days, 108 COVID cases have been confirmed in Henrico children 9 and younger – two more than the number confirmed in people in their 20s and five more than the number confirmed in people in their 30s during the same timeframe.

Thirty-nine cases (or about 30% of all cases reported Tuesday) occurred among children 9 or younger, according to the VDH data. This month, however, only one child in that age range from the county has been hospitalized by the virus.

New COVID-19 vaccinations spiked over the weekend in Henrico, with nearly 1,600 people receiving their first dose between Aug. 19 and 22 and more than 1,400 becoming fully vaccinated. By comparison, only about 600 county residents had gotten first doses during the three previous days, according to VDH data.

Health officials are hopeful that Monday’s announcement by the FDA that it was granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine (which now will be known as Comirnaty) will encourage people who had been waiting for that action to get the vaccine – and that it may clear the way for more businesses and organizations to require vaccinations of employees and others.

“The science is clear that this is a safe and effective vaccine that is highly effective in preventing infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and subsequent variants, and in preventing serious illness that could result in hospitalization and/or death,” state vaccine coordinator and Henrico Health Director Danny Avula said in a statement Monday.

More than 200 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administrated in the U.S. to date, including more than 5.4 million in Virginia.

To date, just more than 206,000 Henricoans (or about 62.3% of the population) have received at least one dose of vaccine and almost 185,000 (or 55.9%) are fully vaccinated. Henrico is less than 1% behind the state overall in the former category and exactly even in the latter.

Though some people who are vaccinated still get COVID, the number of such breakthrough cases is minuscule, according to new VDH data.

Statewide, more than 4.7 million people have been fully vaccinated and just more than 10,700 of them – or about 0.2% – are known to have developed COVID cases anyway, the data released Monday showed. But only 404 of those people – about 0.009% – required hospitalization and 83 – or 0.0018% – died.

Speaking to reporters Monday, President Joe Biden urged people who had been waiting for a vaccine to receive full authorization to get vaccinated soon.

“If you're one of the millions of Americans who said that they will not get the shot [until it was fully approved], it's time for you to go get your vaccination. Get it today.

“As I've said before, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. It's a tragedy that's preventable. People are dying and will die that don't have to. So please, please, if you haven't gotten your vaccination, do it now.”

In the Central health region, which includes Henrico, a total of 576 confirmed breakthrough cases have occurred this month in people who were vaccinated, but only 10 were hospitalized and none died, according to VDH data.

In Virginia since late January, unvaccinated people have developed COVID-19 at a rate 12.5 times higher than that of fully vaccinated people and 2.5 times higher than that of partially vaccinated people, according to VDH. Those who are fully vaccinated have averaged only between 2.8 and 44 cases per 100,000 people week by week since late January, while the rates for those who are unvaccinated have ranged between 23 and 336 per 100,000.

During the week of Aug. 8-14, there were almost 298 infections per 100,000 people among unvaccinated Virginians but only about 35 cases per 100,000 among those who are fully vaccinated, according to the data.