Henrico sees slight increase in new COVID hospitalizations
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Henrico County witnessed its first day in more than three months with at least five new COVID-19-related hospitalizations Tuesday, according to Virginia Department of Health data.
It was the most new virus-related hospitalizations on a single day since eight were reported Sept. 17, but the county continues to average just more than one per day during the past week. It was averaging less than one per day from the start of November until mid-December and has fluctuated between 1 and 1.5 since then. No new hospitalizations related to the virus were reported in the county Wednesday.
Hospitalizations and deaths lag days or weeks behind a rise in case counts, but the Omicron variant (believed to be responsible for more than 75% of all new cases) is proving less severe than earlier variants.
Since Dec. 19, Henrico has witnessed nearly 7,300 new confirmed COVID-19 cases – by far the most in the county during a two-week timeframe since the pandemic began – and likely hundreds or thousands of other cases that weren’t known or weren’t reported to the VDH, but only 20 new hospitalizations in total.
The county has reported six COVID-related deaths during that same timeframe.
Though COVID-related hospitalizations in Henrico continue to be low, statewide numbers have been on the rise, and hospital officials have urged people only to make COVID-related visits to emergency rooms or hospitals in general if they are having significant health issues.
This week, VCU Health announced that it would be postponing non-urgent care procedures, in order to hold space for an anticipated rise in COVID patients.
On Wednesday, Henrico reported 547 new cases, a day after reporting 665 (its third-highest single-day total ever). The county is now averaging 643 new daily cases during the past week.
