Virginia July 30 COVID-19 update: 3rd straight day of 1,000-plus cases; Hampton Roads test positivity rising sharply

Posted: Jul 30, 2021 / 11:40 AM EDT

Updated: Aug 2, 2021 / 05:09 PM EDT

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia reported its third straight day of more than 1,000 coronavirus cases on Friday as virus spread fueled by the delta variant rises across the commonwealth.

Test positivity is also sharply climbing, up now to 5.1% on average. It’s at 8.8% in the Hampton Roads region.

Hospitalizations are also climbing, up to 453 patients currently.

Virginia reported 7 new deaths on Friday, which are still steady around 5 per day. Though current reported deaths also likely reflect infections when there was much lower community spread and with fewer cases of the delta variant.

View VDH’s variants of concern dashboard

Virginia Department of Health data shows the delta variant becoming the dominant variant strain of the virus in the commonwealth.

State metrics

New cases (+1,178, 694,384 total), 869 per day
New deaths (+7, 11,532 total), 5 per day
Current hospitalizations (+5 patients, 448 total currently)
Vaccine doses administered: 9,413,936
- percent of population with at least one dose: 60.2%
  - percent of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 72.1%
- percent of population fully vaccinated: 53.9% (4,602,156 people)
- percent of adults fully vaccinated: 65%

The CDC was expected to share new info Friday that the coronavirus delta variant can spread as easily as chickenpox.

The data also shows that fully vaccinated people might spread the variant as easily as unvaccinated people, the Washington Post reported. The vaccine’s still very effective at preventing infection and preventing severe symptoms and death.

VDH data shows that nearly 98% of coronavirus cases in July were in people not fully vaccinated. There were 303 reported “breakthrough” cases in that same timeframe. A breakthrough case is when a person fully vaccinated against COVID-19 tests positive for the virus. VDH reported one breakthrough death in July.

Local cases

Most of Hampton Roads’ cities and counties have either “high” or “substantial” levels of community transmission (high means more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people in the past 7 days or percentage of tests positive in the past 7 days over 10%).

Test positivity rates are rising across the board.

Accomack: 2,928 cases, 217 hospitalized 46 deaths (+4 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Chesapeake: 21,840 cases, 1,064 hospitalized, 311 deaths (+54 cases, +4 hospitalized)
Franklin: 1,156 cases, 55 hospitalized, 33 deaths (+4 cases)
Gloucester: 2,380 cases, 70 hospitalized, 52 deaths ( +7 cases)
Hampton: 11,005 cases, 473 hospitalized, 184 deaths (+23 cases, +2 hospitalized)
Isle of Wight: 3,262 cases, 159 hospitalized, 70 deaths (+7 cases, +2 hospitalized)
James City County: 4,787 cases, 185 hospitalized, 72 deaths (+7 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Mathews: 614 cases, 24 hospitalized, 14 deaths (+4 cases)
Newport News: 14,719 cases, 552 hospitalized, 242 deaths (+32 cases, +2 hospitalized)
Norfolk: 18,393 cases, 1,072 hospitalized, 274 deaths (+33 cases, +2 hospitalized)
Northampton: 811 cases, 82 hospitalized, 36 deaths (no change)
Poquoson: 919 cases, 29 hospitalized, 18 deaths (+1 case)
Portsmouth: 9,399 cases, 710 hospitalized, 205 deaths (+17 cases)
Southampton: 2,009 cases, 59 hospitalized, 57 deaths (+2 cases, +1 hospitalized)
Suffolk: 8,195 cases, 491 hospitalized, 193 deaths ( +8 cases)
Virginia Beach: 37,383 cases, 1,774 hospitalized, 421 deaths ( +82 cases, +4 hospitalized,+1 death)
Williamsburg: 787 cases, 32 hospitalized, 14 deaths (no change)
York: 3,926 cases, 99 hospitalized, 59 deaths (+4 cases, +1 hospitalized)