Virginia July 6 COVID-19 update: New case numbers down, no new deaths reported statewide; Hampton Roads reports 100-plus new cases

Posted: Jul 6, 2020 / 10:07 AM EDT

Updated: Jul 6, 2020 / 10:50 AM EDT

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia reported its lowest single day increase in new COVID-19 cases since near the beginning of the state’s outbreak on Monday, coming out of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, along with zero new deaths and the state’s lowest number of current COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Numbers continue to move in the right direction for most of the state, but here in Hampton Roads there have been troubling increases in the number of new cases and percent of positive cases in several local cities — including a major rise in percent of positive cases in Norfolk. (more on that below)

Statewide numbers:

New cases: (+ 354, 66,102 total) — 200 cases below 7-day average, which has increased slightly over the past few days
New deaths (+0, 1,853 total) — 8 new deaths reported over last 3 days after 4 straight days above 20. “Deaths by day of death,” which shows the actual day a COVID-19 patient died, continues to decline.
Hospitalizations (-9, 783 total) — Lowest numbers of total COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU patients and ventilator patients to date
Testing (6.1% 7-day average, Tests per day above 11K on average)

The low new case numbers statewide can likely be attributed to a lag in reporting from Sunday, because case numbers were higher than average the last three days. The vast majority of new cases reported over the past few days involve people who started displaying symptoms well before the holiday weekend and Virginia’s move to phase 3 on July 1. It takes about 5 days on average for people to show COVID-19 symptoms, meaning a person who started displaying symptoms on July 4 most likely caught the coronavirus about 5 days ahead of that time. Also many test results take at least 2-4 days to come back, with some backed-up labs taking about a week at least to return results.

Here’s the latest count for Hampton Roads and the whole Tidewater region (numbers are cumulative)

Accomack: 1,044 cases, 72 hospitalized, 14 deaths
Chesapeake: 1,026 cases, 147 hospitalized, 21 deaths (+11 cases)
Franklin: 55 cases, 4 hospitalized, 2 death (+1 case)
Gloucester: 50 cases, 9 hospitalized, 1 death
Hampton: 376 cases, 41 hospitalized, 5 deaths (+7 cases)
Isle of Wight: 194 cases, 16 hospitalized, 9 deaths
James City County: 297 cases, 58 hospitalized, 15 deaths (+6 cases)
Mathews: 6 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 deaths
Newport News: 592 cases, 45 hospitalized, 10 deaths (+8 cases)
Norfolk: 1,105 cases, 115 hospitalized, 12 deaths (+33 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Northampton: 272 cases 41 hospitalized, 28 deaths
Poquoson: 19 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 death
Portsmouth: 549 cases, 73 hospitalized, 18 deaths
Southampton: 163 cases, 8 hospitalized, 7 deaths
Suffolk: 457 cases, 63 hospitalized, 38 deaths (+6 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Virginia Beach: 1,392 cases, 123 hospitalized, 30 deaths (+42 cases)
Williamsburg: 74 cases, 12 hospitalized, 6 deaths (+2 cases)
York: 131 cases, 10 hospitalized, 3 deaths (+2 cases)

7-day average for percent of positive cases

Chesapeake – 9.0% — rising sharply, highest since late May, testing numbers stagnant
Eastern Shore – 6.1%, trending down, 1,370 new tests reported June 30
Hampton – 5.3%, down slightly after rise with increase in testing
Norfolk – 12.4% — sharp rise since June 22, highest percent since late April
Portsmouth — 11.4%, similar to late May numbers, but not rising as sharply as Chesapeake and Norfolk
Virginia Beach — 4.7%, steady rise since low of 1.8% on June 6
Western Tidewater — 5.6%, highest since late May despite increase in testing

View all these percentages on VDH’s website under the testing tab.

Key local metrics:

118 new cases locally (Down slightly from recent days — record 207 cases reported July 4)
0 new deaths
2 new hospitalizations
Over the weekend the region’s 7-day average reached more than double its previous 7-day highs though late June
Norfolk and Chesapeake are seeing major increases in percent of positive tests

Norfolk

Norfolk’s reported 118 new cases in the last four days, compared to 167 in Virginia Beach, but Norfolk has about half its neighbor’s population. Nearly 40% of Norfolk’s cases involve people under age 30 and more than 80% are Black or Latino.

Virginia Beach has reported 167 new cases in the last four days and its 7-day rate of positive cases is at its highest point since late April. Virginia Beach, like Norfolk, is seeing most of its cases in people under age 30.