Henrico's new COVID cases continue to decline, but hospitalizations up slightly

Henrico County reported 141 new cases of COVID-19 Friday – one of its lowest counts since the start of the new year, but still higher than most days since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Henrico also witnessed its seven-day daily average of decline slightly to 231 cases, the first noticeable decline since Jan. 19, when a sharp increase began.

The VDH reported seven new hospitalizations related to the virus in the county (higher than the seven-day daily average of four hospitalizations) and three new deaths attributed to it.

Henrico's positivity percentage is climbing up slightly again, reaching 11.4 percent among PCR testing encounters and 9.6% among rapid testing encounters as of Jan. 18. That data is beginning to reflect several of the days on which Henrico recorded its highest-ever case counts. It intentionally lags several days behind, in order to account for as many testing encounters and results as possible from a given seven-day period.

As vaccines continue to roll out all over the state of Virginia, Henrico County has stepped out as one of the front-runners in administration. With 17,393 vaccine doses administered so far, Henrico is only second to Fairfax County, according to VDH data. More than 2,500 people have been fully vaccinated, more than that of Richmond City and Chesterfield County.

Virginia has reached an average of 19,405 vaccine administrations per day. Slightly more than 1 million doses now have been distributed statewide since mid-December.

There have been a total of 145 outbreaks in Henrico during the pandemic – defined as two or more related cases – producing 2,974. Additionally, 964 healthcare workers have contracted the virus, according to the VDH.