Weekly update number 31 on the coronavirus in the DC area. This week the D.C area (pop. 5.4 million) increased by 4,256 new cases. Last week there were 4,326 new cases. Over a month ago we had two weeks of less than 3,000 cases a week and now it has gone back up.
In contrast, Italy (pop. 60.3 million), the original epicenter of the European outbreak, is in trouble with 28K new cases reported for yesterday. It is an amazing collapse of control from what they had. It has gotten bad across Europe, in the UK (20K cases yesterday), France (46K on 1 Nov), Spain (19K), Germany (18K on 2 Nov) and Russia (18K) The U.S., which has never gotten the virus under control, had 92K new cases yesterday. This is in contrast to places like China (55 cases on 2 Nov), Japan (878), South Korea (118), Taiwan (4), Vietnam (10), Singapore (9), Australia (12) and New Zealand (3).
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 eighteen weeks ago. It has since increased. All the data is from the Johns Hopkin’s website as of 7:24 AM: Johns Hopkins CSSE
……………………..….Population…last week…this week…Deaths
Washington D.C…….…..702,445…….16,973..…17,524……647
Arlington, VA……………..237,521……..4,630……4,813……154
Alexandria VA……………160,530……..4,269…….4,377……..74
Fairfax County, VA…….1,150,795…….23,648.…24,458..…604
Falls Church, VA…………..14,772………….75………78……….7
Fairfax City, VA……..…..…24,574.………..159…….165…..…..8
Loudoun County, VA….…406,850..….….7,876…..8,105……132
Prince Williams C., VA…..468,011..……14,235…14,768..…223
Manassas…………………..41,641…..…..2,045….2,066…..…27
Manassas Park………….…17,307..….……648….…662……….8
Stafford Country, VA……..149,960……….2,373….2,480.……22
Fredericksburg, VA…………29,144.…….….588……603………6
Montgomery C., MD…….1,052,567…….25,562…26,398…..876
Prince Georges C., MD.…..909,308…….32,648…33,488…..863
Total……….…….….……..5,365,425…..135,729..139,985..3,651
This is a 3% increase since last week. The Mortality Rate for the area is 2.61%, which is high, but has been steadily declining. Last week, there were only 15 new fatalities reported out of 4,256 new cases. This is a mortality rate of less than 0.4%. The population known to have been infected is 2.61% or one confirmed case for every 38 people. Even if the actual infection rate is four times or more higher, this is a long way from “herd immunity.”
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 Harrisonburg, University of Virginia (UVA) at Charlottesville and Virginia Tech (VT) at Blacksburg.
Harrisonburg, VA is reporting 3,146 cases (3,040 last week) and 35 deaths, while Rockingham County, where the town resides, is reporting 1,827 cases (1,764 last week) and 27 deaths. This is where James Madison University is located.
Charlottesville, VA has 1,626 confirmed cases (1,597 last week) and 31 deaths, while Albemarle County, VA, where the town resides, has 1,619 confirmed cases (1,585 last week) and 24 deaths. This is where UVA is located. UVA had a covid tracker which is worth looking at: https://returntogrounds.virginia.edu/covid-tracker. They had been having a growth in cases since they reopened, but put in new regulations and restrictions these last few weeks, so the number of new cases has declined and stayed down. So far, they have been doing a decent job at containing this.
Further south, Montgomery County, VA has 3,009 cases this week (2,788 last week) and 5 deaths. This is where Virginia Tech is located.
Virginia (pop. 8.5 million) is still running around 1,000 cases a day (1,261 yesterday). This has been the case for months. It does not seem to want to establish a steady downward trend, but at least it is not going up (maybe).
Dare County, North Carolina, a beach area in the outer banks, has had 396 cases (370 last week) and 3 deaths. With summer over, not sure why this continues to grow.
