Three Rivers Health District experienced another week of rising COVID-19 case numbers, according to the health district’s COVID-19 weekly update release.

The health district reported 144 new COVID-19 cases last week, which is “the largest single week increase in cases since the pandemic began,” according to the Three Rivers release. This is the second week in a row that Three Rivers has reported its largest single week increase.

Gloucester is the only jurisdiction in the health district to remain below 10 cases per 100,000 moving seven-day average. The rest, including Mathews and Middlesex, are over 10.

The Virginia Department of Health reported 10 new COVID-19 cases for Mathews this past week bringing the total to 41 cases as of Wednesday. Mathews also experienced one new hospitalization for a total of three hospitalizations since the pandemic began.

Gloucester reached a total of 230 COVID-19 cases Wednesday morning, which was an increase of four from the previous week. Middlesex had a total of 112 reported cases Wednesday which is a 29-case increase from the previous week. Middlesex also reported two new deaths for a total of 10 deaths experienced in the county since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to the Three Rivers release, the health district experienced two outbreaks last week, one in a congregate setting and another in an adult care facility. The release also reported that individual exposures and private events continue to be the main source of community transmission.

Statewide, Virginia had a total of 142,590 cases, 10,718 hospitalizations and 3,089 deaths attributed to COVID-19 Wednesday morning. That was an increase of 6,231 cases, 329 hospitalizations and 205 deaths reported from last Wednesday to this Wednesday.

Testing

There will be two local COVID-19 testing events in October. The first will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the Mathews Health Department from 10 a.m. until noon and the other will held on Thursday, Oct. 15 at the Gloucester Library, Main Street Center from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Both testing events are by appointment only and the testing will be conducted at no charge. There will be 150 tests available at each event.

Over 1.9 million PCR tests have been conducted in Virginia since the pandemic began with a seven-day positivity rate of 5.5 percent.

In Three Rivers, there have been 29,570 PCR tests administered so far in the health district with a seven-day positivity rate of 7.7 percent.