While some parts of the country are seeing a worrisome resurgence of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Arlington’s numbers have remained relatively low over the past week.
The total known cases in the county reached 2,280 overnight, an increase of 15 since the day before, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. The seven-day trailing total of new cases ticked up a bit, to 138, reflecting a bump in new cases over the weekend that followed a week-long lull.
The number of cumulative hospitalizations is now 394, up just 9 since this past Friday. Encouragingly, the number of COVID-related deaths has remained steady at 121 since Friday.
Arlington’s average test positivity rate over the past week is now 8.4%, lower than the statewide average of 9%.
With Arlington entering its Phase 2 reopening on Friday, those numbers will be closely watched over the next few weeks.
Also being watched: changes to the testing figures reported by VDH. The state health department said in a statement earlier this week (below) that it was trying to catch up on a backlog of testing data.
Starting on June 9, the Virginia Department of Health’s (VDH) COVID-19 data dashboard will reflect 13,000 additional tests that were backlogged. Over the next couple of days, this new information will be slowly added to the current data, which will result in an influx of results.
A Richmond area laboratory had previously been providing test results via fax, which had to be entered manually by VDH staff, contributing to the backlog. VDH staff had prioritized positive test results, which means the remaining backlog largely includes negative tests. The lab is now submitting test results electronically.
This change alleviates by half the reporting backlog of test results. VDH continues to work to eliminate that backlog.