The number of cases and deaths from coronavirus has declined but is still very high. This is weekly update number 45 on the coronavirus in the DC area.
This week the D.C area (pop. 5.4 million) increased by 10,871. There were 11,498 new cases last week. Three weeks ago it was 18,934 new cases. Fourteen weeks ago there were only 4,256 new cases. We look to be about six months way from having a vaccine available for everyone.
Almost all of Europe is still struggling with controlling the spread of the disease. Italy (pop. 60.3 million), the original epicenter of the European outbreak, is still struggling with 11K new cases reported for yesterday. It remains high in the UK (12K yesterday) although it continues to drop from its high of 68K new cases a day on 8 January. Yesterday they reported for France (19K), Spain (16K), Germany (6K) and Russia (15K). The U.S., which has never gotten the virus under control, had 95K new cases yesterday. This is improvement for a high of 300K new cases on 2 January. This is in contrast to places like China (40 cases), Japan (1,558), South Korea (443), Taiwan (5), Vietnam (14), Singapore (11), Australia (11) and New Zealand (2). Still, the number of new cases is down almost everywhere, which is good news.Â
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 cases thirty-two weeks ago. It has since increased. All the data is from the Johns Hopkin’s website as of 11:22 AM: Johns Hopkins CSSE
……………………..….Population…last week…this week…Deaths
Washington D.C…….…..702,445…….37,199……38,438…….965
Arlington, VA……………..237,521..…..11,867……12,364…….209
Alexandria VA……………160,530………9,544……..9,798…….105
Fairfax County, VA…….1,150,795.……60,265……62,445…….721
Falls Church, VA…………..14,772.…….…296………..318…….…7
Fairfax City, VA……..…..…24,574..….……437………..448……..12
Loudoun County, VA….…406,850….…20,791……21,808…….191
Prince Williams C., VA…..468,011……..35,693…..37,184….…327
Manassas…………………..41,641..………3,753……3,866……….33
Manassas Park………….…17,307….……1,073……1,101…………8
Stafford Country, VA……..149,960….……8,123……8,727……….53
Fredericksburg, VA…………29,144………1,569……1,668……….14
Montgomery C., MD…….1,052,567……..59,439…..61,001.…1,360
Prince Georges C., MD.…..909,308……..68,490….70,244..…1,272
Total……….…….….……..5,365,425…….318,539..329,410.….5,277
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This is a 3% increase since last week. The Mortality Rate for the area is 1.60%. This last week, there were 65 new fatalities reported out of 10,871 new cases. This is a mortality rate of 0.60%. The population known to have been infected is 6.14% or one confirmed case for every 16 people. The actual rate of infection has been higher, perhaps as much as 4 times higher.
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. Most of them were emptied out due to Thanksgiving and the upcoming Christmas holidays. Most of these universities went back in session in mid-January, except for UVA, which started its sessions last week.
Harrisonburg, VA (pop. 54K) is reporting 5,504 cases (5,364 last week) and 67 deaths (up 19 these last four weeks!), while Rockingham County (pop. 81K), where the town resides, is reporting 5,796 cases (5,589 last week) and 76 deaths (up 22 these last four weeks!). This is where James Madison University is located.
Charlottesville, VA (pop. 47K) has 2,883 cases (2,752 last week) and 40 deaths, while Albemarle County, VA (pop. 109K), where the town resides, has 4,132 cases (3,966 last week) and 39 deaths. This is where UVA is located. UVA had good covid tracker website: https://returntogrounds.virginia.edu/covid-tracker. Â
Lynchburg (pop. 82K), the home of Liberty University, has 6,581 cases (6,279 last week) cases and 85 deaths (25 deaths these last three weeks).
Further south, Montgomery County, VA (pop. 99K) has 6,685 cases (6,414 last week) and 70 deaths (up 22 these last four weeks!). This is where Virginia Tech is located.
Virginia (pop. 8.5 million) had 3,291 cases yesterday. Last week is as 2,740 cases. Two weeks ago it was 4,707. For a long time, it pretty much ran 1,000 cases a day, neither going up or going down.
Dare County, North Carolina (pop. 37K), a beach area in the outer banks, has 1,776 cases (1,701 last week) and 7 deaths. With summer over, not sure why this continues to grow. It is growing a lot faster than during the summer.
