Latest weekly update of this coronavirus post. The number of reported cases in the DC area has been in steady decline for over a month, while many other areas of the United States it has been growing. The last month has been encouraging as the number of cases has declined from around 8,000 to 9,500 new cases a week the previous month to less than 3,000 cases a week. This week is was 3,104 new cases, which is an increase over last week’s count of 2,681 and the low of 2,406 two weeks ago. So, teh number of cases of coronavirus is no increasing in this area. In contrast, Italy, the epicenter of the European outbreak, is reporting 114 cases yesterday. All the data is from the Johns Hopkin’s website as of 12:35:18 PM: Johns Hopkins CSSE
The DC area is rather sprawling, with over 5 million people scattered across DC, Virginia and Maryland. Let me list the presence of virus by location. I list the number of cases from last week followed by the number of cases this week and then the current number of reported deaths. Population is the 2018 estimate from Wikipedia:
……………………..….Population…last week…this week.…Deaths
Washington D.C…….…..702,445…….10,569…..11,026……….571
Arlington, VA……………..237,521….…..2,558……2,677………134
Alexandria VA……………160,530………2,408…….2,486……….57
Fairfax County, VA…….1,150,795….…14,253….14,653………502
Falls Church, VA…………..14,772…..…..….54……….54…………7
Fairfax City, VA……..…..…24,574.….………72…….…74…………7
Loudoun County, VA….…406,850..……..4,282……4,519…..…..98
Prince Williams C., VA…..468,011..……..7,664……7,947………160
Manassas…………………..41,641…..….1,464……1.497………..19
Manassas Park………….…17,307………..449……….463…………6
Stafford Country, VA……..149,960………1,029…….1,085…………6
Fredericksburg, VA…………29,144…….….263………288…………0
Montgomery C., MD…….1,052,567……15,400……15,986…….763
Prince Georges C., MD……909,308……19,285……20,099…….717
Total……….…….………..5,365,425.……79,750……82,854…..3,047
This is a 4% increase since last week. The Mortality Rate for the area is 3.68%, which is high. It either means lots of vulnerable people, or the number of cases of infection are being significantly underreported. The population known to be infected is 1.54% or one confirmed case for every 65 people.
The Washington DC statistical area according to some also includes Warren, Clarke, Fauquier, and Spotsylvania Counties in Virginia, Jefferson County in West Virginia, Frederick, Howard, Charles and Calvert Counties in Maryland. I rarely go to these places and they were not listed in the Governor of Virginia’s order extending the lock-down in Northern Virginia.
Of interest to me is Albemarle County, VA with 583 confirmed cases (498 last week) and 10 deaths, and Charlottesville, VA which has 318 confirmed cases (241 last week) and 7 deaths. Montgomery County, VA is 201 cases this week (170 last week) and 3 deaths. Of course, who knows what will happen if you bring in tens of thousands of students in the fall. These two areas are the home of UVA and Virginia Tech, two large universities located in a more rural environment. Dare County, North Carolina, a beach area, has 124 cases (82 last week) and 1 death. The number of cases in all these areas is growing at a worrisome rate.
