Latest weekly update of this coronavirus post. This week the D.C area (pop. 5.4 million)Â increased by 3,387 new cases. Last week week there were 3,317 new cases. There does seem to be a pattern in that the spread of the virus has been reduced from when we were seeing 9,000 or more cases a week several months ago, to a more controlled 3,000 or more cases a week now. Still, it does not appear to be getting any better.
In contrast, Italy (pop. 60.3 million), the epicenter of the European outbreak, is reporting 1,391 new cases for the day yesterday. They are dealing with some new outbreaks as are a lot of countries that appeared to have the virus under control.
The number of reported cases in the DC area was hovering around 8,000 to 9,500 a week for several months, then declined to a low of 2,406 twelve weeks ago. It has since increased. All the data is from the Johns Hopkin’s website as of 10:23 AM: Johns Hopkins CSSE
……………………..….Population…last week…this week…Deaths
Washington D.C…….…..702,445…….14,376…..15,050……..621
Arlington, VA……………..237,521………3,779……3,877……..148
Alexandria VA……………160,530………3,628……3,741…..….68
Fairfax County, VA…….1,150,795…….19,837…..20,437…….583
Falls Church, VA…………..14,772………….66……..…69…….…6
Fairfax City, VA……..…..…24,574.…….….132………134………..7
Loudoun County, VA….…406,850..….….6,523…….6,720……123
Prince Williams C., VA…..468,011..…….11,810…..12,215……201
Manassas…………………..41,641….……1,869…….1,904……..25
Manassas Park………….…17,307..…….….598……….607.….…7
Stafford Country, VA……..149,960……….1,880….…1,971..…..17
Fredericksburg, VA…………29,144.….…….518….……531..…….5
Montgomery C., MD…….1,052,567…….21,467……21,933……841
Prince Georges C., MD.…..909,308…….28,034……28,715……821
Total……….…….….……..5,365,425…..114,517….117,904…3,473
This is a 3% increase since last week. The Mortality Rate for the area is 2.95%, which is high, but has been steadily declining over the last few weeks. The population known to have been infected is 2.20% or one confirmed case for every 46 people.
Virginia has a number of large universities (23,000 – 36,000 students) located in more rural areas, often tied to a small town. This includes James Madison (JMU) at Harrisburg, University of Virginia (UVA) at Charlottesville and Virginia Tech (VT) at Blacksburg. Maybe one-third of the students at these universities are from Northern Virginia. UVA opened up for students two weeks ago. The other two universities opened up for students around a month ago. They have all had problems.
Harrisonburg, VA is reporting 2,541 cases (2,293 last week) and 34 deaths, while Rockingham County, where the town resides, is reporting 1,390 cases (1,312 last week) and 21 deaths. This is where James Madison University is located. A few weeks ago they sent home 6,000 students who were in the dorms (which I think was a mistake). They originally decided to do in-person classes and did not test their students before they arrived. The end result was a fiasco.
Albemarle County, VA has 1,203 confirmed cases (1,145 last week) and 21 deaths and Charlottesville, VA which has 1,105 confirmed cases (935 last week) and 28 deaths. This is where UVA is located. They tested their students before admission, opened up campus two weeks later and are not doing in-person classes. UVA had a covid tracker which is worth looking at: https://returntogrounds.virginia.edu/covid-tracker. They are having a a growth in cases since they reopened, now around two hundred new cases on campus a week. We shall see if this can be contained. They are still not that actively patrolling to ensure that the student body is following the guidelines. They report 569 cases since 17 August, which I gather is a higher percentage of student population then for Virginia Tech.
Further south, Montgomery County, VA has 1,783 cases this week (1,554 last week) and 4 deaths. This is where Virginia Tech is located.
Virginia (pop. 8.5 million) itself is not doing well, running around a thousand new cases a day right now (862 cases yesterday).
Dare County, North Carolina, a beach area in the outer banks, has had 264 cases (260 last week) and 2 deaths.
