Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Virginia Beach reported a new death Wednesday. The Virginia Department of Health removed a death from Virginia Beach’s count.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia reported a record number of COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, 45, as it passed 40,000 cumulative cases.

It comes just two days before the commonwealth implements a statewide mandate requiring Virginians 10 and older to wear face coverings while

1,281 Virginians have now died from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, with 57% percent occurring in Virginia’s long-term care facilities. 77% of the deaths involved Virginians 70 and older.

37 of the 45 deaths (82%) reported Wednesday were in Northern Virginia, which has delayed its phase 1 reopening until at least May 28, though Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday that region leaders have spoken to him about the potential for reopening soon.

Many of Thursday’s cases were still likely people who contracted the coronavirus before Virginia’s May 15 reopening, with the onset of symptoms being on average 5-6 days, with some cases being up to 14 days. Add in testing lag and some cases could take at least 2 weeks to shows up on the Virginia Department of Health’s website.

Here’s VDH’s graph of cases by symptom onset:

Both new deaths reported Wednesday were on the Eastern Shore (1 in Accomack and 1 in Northampton).

Here’s the latest case breakdown for Tidewater:

Accomack: 780 cases, 42 hospitalized,  12 deaths
Chesapeake: 472 cases, 85 hospitalized, 14 deaths
Franklin:  39 cases, 2 hospitalized, 1 death
Gloucester: 30 cases, 7 hospitalized, 1 death
Hampton: 183 cases,  30 hospitalized, 3 deaths
Isle of Wight: 125 cases, 11 hospitalized, 3 deaths
James City County: 200 cases, 55 hospitalized, 16 deaths
Mathews: 5 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 deaths,
Newport News: 254 cases, 38 hospitalized, 10 deaths
Norfolk: 451 cases, 62 hospitalized, 6 deaths
Northampton: 225 cases 23 hospitalized, 18 deaths
Poquoson: 7 cases, 2 hospitalized, 0 death
Portsmouth: 282 cases,  41 hospitalized, 11 deaths
Southampton: 144 cases, 6 hospitalized, 2 deaths
Suffolk: 308 cases, 46 hospitalized, 31 deaths
Virginia Beach: 646 cases, 90 hospitalized, 22 deaths
Williamsburg: 43 cases, 9 hospitalized, 3 deaths
York: 71 cases, 9 hospitalized, 3 deaths

Quick takeaways:

  • Northampton, which has by far the highest per capita death rate in Virginia, reported another death Thursday to bring its total to 18. The county of approximately 12,000 people has nearly as many deaths as Virginia Beach (pop. 450K). It added 4 new cases on Wednesday.
  • Accomack reported 22 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, but many of its 510 chicken plant cases reported back on May 15 continue to be left out of its total case data. VDH had said manual data entry and employees from out of state in cases has slowed entry, but haven’t given updates on the progress of inserting the cases since.
  • Chesapeake was the only locality in Tidewater besides Accomack to add more than 10 cases, though its percentage of new cases continues to remain low. Tidewater as a region (beside the Eastern Shore) has seen relatively low increases in cases for at least two weeks.

For more information from the Virginia Department of Health, click here.