COVID-19 case rates have dropped significantly over the past week, with the national case rate down to 475,700 cases per day, nearly half of the 856,000 daily cases recorded three weeks ago.

Virginia cases were also down by nearly half from the 16,800 cases per day listed on Jan. 10, with 9,194 new cases recorded per day as of Monday.

“It appears we have passed the peak of the surge,” said Dr. Richard Williams, Three Rivers Health District Director, in his weekly update. However, he said, “there’s still a lot of virus circulating in our communities.”

Williams again urged district residents to get vaccinated if they haven’t done so, and to get booster shots if they’re eligible.

Cases, hospitalizations, deaths

Gloucester recorded 219 new cases during the past week, less than a third of the 750 cases the county had two weeks ago, during the peak of the local surge. The total number of cases for the county now stands at 6,869 since the beginning of the pandemic. One Glouces...