While the Three Rivers Health District moved to Phase 1b of the COVID-19 vaccination program on Tuesday, offering some hope of relief from the pandemic, the post-holiday surge in cases and deaths continued locally.

In Gloucester, six people died of the virus during the past week, for a total of 18 people in the county who have lost their lives to COVID since the pandemic began. Mathews saw one additional death, for a total of five, while two Middlesex residents died during the past week, for a total of 15.

Gloucester’s case count once again rose significantly, as well, with 151 new cases diagnosed, for a cumulative total of 1,278 cases since March, or 3.4 percent of the population. In Mathews, 19 new cases were added, for a total of 390 cases, or 4.4 percent of the population, while Middlesex added 39 new cases, for a total of 360, or 3.4 percent of the population (Population figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey).

Hospitalizations locally remained steady, with just two added in Gloucester, for a total of 38, and no new hospitalizations in Mathews or Middlesex, each of which has seen 16 residents hospitalized since the pandemic began.

Across the 10 counties of the health district, 82 people have died from COVID-19, 13 of them during the past week. There have been a total of 6,459 cases diagnosed since the pandemic began, an increase of 628 cases during the past week, and the district has had 269 people hospitalized, with 12 of those added since last Wednesday.

Since the pandemic began, 5,861 Virginians have died from COVID-19, with 309 of those deaths occurring during the past week. A total of 455,591 people have been diagnosed with the virus, 43,046 of them in the past week alone, while 20,231 have been hospitalized at some point during the pandemic, 761 of them in the past week.