New COVID-19 cases return to pre-Labor Day totals in Henrico

Henrico County’s dip in new COVID-19 cases during the Labor Day weekend was short-lived, as the county reported 145 new cases of the virus Wednesday – more than the 141 total cases reported Monday and Tuesday combined. The county is now averaging 115 new daily cases during the past week. Before Monday and Tuesday's lower case counts, the county had witnessed 13 straight days with more than 100 new cases each.

The Labor Day weekend numbers likely were artificially lowered by a combination of some testing sites being closed and not as many people being tested for the virus as normal.

Henrico also witnessed two new hospitalizations but no new virus-related deaths Wednesday, according to Virginia Department of Health data.

There are currently five outbreaks (instances of at least two or more related cases) in Henrico, but only one (which began Aug. 18 at the Henrico Police Athletic League camp) has involved more than five cases; it’s resulted in six.

The others (at a Bundle of Joy child care location; the Henrico Health and Rehabilitation Center in Highland Springs; Henrico High School; and a Rainbow Station daycare center) each have produced fewer than five; the VDH does not release the exact total for outbreaks involving fewer than five cases.

Henrico’s seven-day positivity percentage among PCR testing encounters as of Sept. 4 (10.1%) was just about even with the statewide average of 10%, but the county’s positivity percentage among rapid testing encounters (11.1%) was higher than the statewide average of 8.6%.

During the week of Aug. 22-28, the rate of infection among unvaccinated Virginians was 563.1 per 100,000 people, but the same rate for those fully vaccinated was just 43.3 per 100,000 – meaning that unvaccinated people developed COVID cases at a rate 13 times that of fully vaccinated people.