Case numbers down, but Dr. Williams urges vigilance

Three Rivers Health District Director Dr. Richard Williams continues to urge residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19. While case rates continue to decline and Virginia and other states are ending mask mandates, he said that “there is still a lot of virus circulating in our communities, and the risk of exposure remains high.”

Williams said that vaccination rates are slowly climbing, with about 71.8 percent of the total population of Virginia vaccinated as of Monday.

There are two upcoming opportunities locally to get a vaccination. The Gloucester Health Department is having a Moderna Clinic from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, Thursday, Feb. 24, at its location at 6889 Main Street in the Main Street Center.

The Mathews Health Department, located at 536 Church Street, is having a Pfizer clinic from 10 a.m. to noon Monday for people aged 12 years and older, including boosters.

Williams also urges residents to get vaccinated against the flu, which he said is circulating in the area “at sporadic levels.”

Cases, hospitalizations, deaths

Virginia case rates are down to about 2,552 cases per day on a seven-day average, said Williams, with Three Rivers cases substantially lower, as well, down to around 30 cases per day.

COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide were down to around 1,221 daily as of Monday, he said, with both regular and ICU beds available in all regions.

In Gloucester, 44 new Covid cases were recorded between last Wednesday and this Wednesday, for a total of 7,193 cases in the county since the pandemic began. There were no new hospitalizations for Gloucester, but two deaths from the virus were recorded during the past week.

Mathews had four new cases during that time period, for a total of 1,407 cases, while Middlesex had 18, bringing the total to 1,781. There were no new hospitalizations or death in either county, leaving Mathews at 31 hospitalizations and 27 deaths and Middlesex at 41 and 42, respectively.
Across the Three Rivers District, 195 new cases were recorded during the past week, for a total of 27,056 over the two years since the pandemic began. There were four new hospitalizations, for a total of 644, and 13 deaths, for a total of 378.

Statewide, there were 15,912 new cases, for a total of 1,632,675; 48 new hospitalizations, for a total of 47,199; and 460 recorded deaths, for a total of 18,338.