Latest weekly update of this coronavirus post. This week the D.C area (pop. 5.4 million)Â increased by 3,317 new cases. Last week week there were 3,132 new cases. This is not great. In contrast, Italy (pop. 60.3 million), the epicenter of the European outbreak, is reporting 1,229 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 eleven weeks ago. It has since increased. All the data is from the Johns Hopkin’s website as of 12:22 PM: Johns Hopkins CSSE
……………………..….Population…last week…this week…Deaths
Washington D.C…….…..702,445…….14,362…..14,376……..617
Arlington, VA……………..237,521……..3,679…….3,779……..146
Alexandria VA……………160,530……..3,546…….3,628……….66
Fairfax County, VA…….1,150,795……19,177……19,837……..572
Falls Church, VA…………..14,772……..….66…………66…………6
Fairfax City, VA……..…..…24,574.……….126……….132…….…..7
Loudoun County, VA….…406,850..…….6,273…….6,523………119
Prince Williams C., VA…..468,011..…..11,364……11,810……..196
Manassas…………………..41,641……..1,842…….1,869…..…..24
Manassas Park………….…17,307..………587……….598…………8
Stafford Country, VA……..149,960……..1,799…….1,880………..13
Fredericksburg, VA…………29,144.….…..511……….518…………5
Montgomery C., MD…….1,052,567…..20,766……21,467……..835
Prince Georges C., MD.…..909,308…..27,102……28,034……..814
Total……….…….….……..5,365,425…111,200….114,517…..3,428
This is a 3% increase since last week. The Mortality Rate for the area is 2.99%, which is high, but has been steadily declining over the last few weeks. The population known to have been infected is 2.13% or one confirmed case for every 47 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 at Harrisburg, UVA at Charlottesville and Virginia Tech at Blacksburg. UVA opened up for students a week ago. The other two universities opened up for students three or four weeks ago. They have both had problems.
Harrisonburg, VA is reporting 2,293 cases (1,989 last week) and 34 deaths, while Rockingham County, where the city resides, is reporting 1,312 cases (1,183 last week) and 21 deaths. This is where James Madison University is located. Week before last they sent home 6,000 students who were in the dorms (which I think is 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 1,145 confirmed cases (1,101 last week) and 19 deaths and Charlottesville, VA which has 935 confirmed cases (819 last week) and 26 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:Â https://returntogrounds.virginia.edu/covid-tracker. They are having a small boom in cases since they reopened, over a hundred new cases on campus a week. We shall see if this can be contained. They are not actively patrolling to ensure that the student body is following the guidelines.
What is interesting is that they tested 18,215 students before admission and ended up with 65 cases (0.36% or one in every 280 students). That is a nice indication of the prevalence of active cases.
Further south, Montgomery County, VA has 1,554 cases this week (1,073 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 (935 cases yesterday) and it has been for the last few weeks.
Dare County, North Carolina, a beach area in the outer banks, has had 260 cases (254 last week) and 2 deaths.
