COVID-19 cases in Mathews and Gloucester continued to rise during the past week, with 11 new cases reported for Mathews, bringing the total to 92 as of Wednesday morning, and 16 new cases for Gloucester, for a total of 265.
A third death was reported in Gloucester on Wednesday morning, while there have been none in Mathews.
Each county also added another hospitalization to their running counts, for a total of seven Mathews patients and 14 Gloucester patients who have been hospitalized since the pandemic began.
Dr. Richard Williams, Director of the Three Rivers Health District, attributed some of the new Mathews cases to a large congregate event that occurred in the county. He could not confirm the type of event due to privacy constraints, but he said that contact tracing and case investigation are ongoing.
Williams reiterated his oft-repeated advice to wear masks, practice social distancing, limit the size of crowds, and avoid spending time in crowds.
“These measures are our primary defense against new infections,” he said.
“COVID-19 is a highly infectious pathogen that readily transmits person-to-person. If people gather in groups and fail to take these protective measures, the outcome is highly likely to be brisk COVID-19 transmission, making community spread worse, and increasing risk for everyone. This has been demonstrated time and time again.”
Middlesex County continued to see a rise in cases, as well, adding seven over the past week for a total of 128, while the county saw an additional death, for a total of 11 people who have died since the pandemic began. The number of hospitalizations remained the same, at eight.
State, health district numbers
Statewide, an additional 5,240 people tested positive for the coronavirus during the past week, for a total of 153,691 Virginians who have been diagnosed thus far, and 304 additional people have been hospitalized, for a total of 11,345 Virginia residents who have spent time in the hospital due to COVID-19.
A total of 3,303 Virginia residents have died from the virus since the pandemic began, with 95 of those deaths occurring during the past week.
In the Three Rivers Health District as a whole, 1,888 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, 123 people have spent time in the hospital with the illness, and 32 Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck residents have died from it.
As of Wednesday morning, 2,170,313 PCR tests had been conducted on Virginia residents, with a 4.8 percent positivity rate as of Wednesday morning. In the Three Rivers Health District, 34,252 tests had been conducted, with a positivity rate of 5.5 percent on Wednesday.
As of Wednesday morning, 13,022 of the 16,476 staffed hospital beds across Virginia were occupied, with 1,003 of those beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Of those 1,003 patients, 228 were in the intensive care unit and 109 were on ventilators.
All statistical data is available on the Virginia Department of Health website at www.vdh.gov/coronavirus.
COVID testing
A testing event for COVID-19 will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Thursday, Oct. 15, at Gloucester Library, Main Street Center. Testing is by appointment only, with 150 tests available. For more information, call the Gloucester County Health Department at 804-693-2445.