As the coronavirus spreads dramatically across the nation, Virginia recorded 16,401 new COVID-19 cases and 136 deaths last week, a significant increase in both statistics compared with recent weeks. The previous week brought 11,160 new cases and 93 deaths, according to the Virginia Department of Health (VDH).
Due to increased testing, though, the seven-day positivity rate remained steady across the state at 7.2%, down from 7.3% last week. As of VDH’s Nov. 23 update, the state has seen 221,038 total cases and 3,942 deaths since March.
More than 250,000 people have died from the virus across the country, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that more than 470,000 U.S. residents could die from COVID-related causes by March 1. The country passed 12 million cases over the past week, an increase of more than 1 million over the past seven days, according to Johns Hopkins University.
