COVID-19 in Virginia: New cases dropped 37% last week; 70.1% of Virginians now fully vaccinated

RICHMOND, Va. -- In an effort to provide accurate, easy-to-read information on the COVID-19 pandemic and on-going vaccination efforts, WTVR.com will update this post weekly with statistics from the Virginia Department of Health.

COVID-19 IN VIRGINIA (Scroll to bottom for U.S. stats)

Positive COVID-19 Cases Since Start of Pandemic: 1,572,022 (+46,431 from last Friday)
People Hospitalized Since Start of Pandemic: 47,178 (*-386 from last Friday)
COVID-19-Linked Deaths Since Start of Pandemic: 16,703 (**+576 from last Friday)

TESTING

Total Tests: 17,807,964 (+286,224 from last Friday)
All Health Districts Current 7-Day Positivity Rate Total: 20.6% (Down from 26.4% last Friday)

VACCINATIONS

People Vaccinated with at least One Dose: 6,783,549 (+38,054 from last Friday)
% of Population with at least One Dose: 79.0% (No change from last Friday)
% of 18+ Population with at least One Dose: 89.8.1% (Updated from 90.1% last Friday)

People Fully Vaccinated: 6,025,443 (+156,399 from last Friday)
% of Population Fully Vaccinated: 70.1% (Up 68.8% from last Friday)
% of 18+ Population Fully Vaccinated: 80.3% (Change from 78.8% last Friday)

People Fully Vaccinated with Booster/Third Dose: 2,625,441 (+219,0244 from last Friday)

**Scroll down for week-to-week COVID cases comparison**

Click here for complete city/county-by-county breakdown of COVID-19 cases in Virginia

NOTE: This update data is provided from the Virginia Department of Healthdaily at 10 a.m. Officials said their cutoff for data is 5 p.m. the previous day. (Cases/testing data is now available Monday-Friday while vaccination data is updated seven days a week.) Get the latest charts and updated numbers from VDH here.

WTVR

VACCINATE VIRGINIA: Virginians age 5+ are eligible for COVID-19 vaccine. Visit the Vaccinate Virginia websiteor call 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-275-8343). You can also search for specific vaccines as well as which ones are available near you via the Vaccine Finder website.

VACCINE SUPPLY USAGE

COMPLETE COVERAGE: COVID-19 HEADLINES (App users, click here for a complete list.)

TRACKING COVID IN VIRGINIA: WEEK-BY-WEEK COMPARISON

Week of Jan. 29-Feb. 4
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +46,431
People Hospitalized: *-386
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: **+576

Week of Jan. 22-28
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +73,878
People Hospitalized: +640
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +275

eek of Jan. 15-21
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +100,296
People Hospitalized: +1,079
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +49

Week of Jan. 8-14
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +130,381
People Hospitalized: +1,771
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +152

Week of Jan. 1-7
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +102,518
People Hospitalized: +2,194
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +64

Week of Dec. 25-31
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +69,182
People Hospitalized: +1,516
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +293

Week of Dec. 18-24
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +35,946
People Hospitalized: +383
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +211

Week of Dec. 11-17
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +19,321
People Hospitalized: -383*
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +188

Week of Dec. 4-10
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +17,470
People Hospitalized: +459
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +142

Week of Nov. 27-Dec. 3
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +12,860
People Hospitalized: +316
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +118

Week of Nov. 20-26
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +10,279
People Hospitalized: -113*
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +143

Week of Nov. 13-19
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +10,623
People Hospitalized: +277
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +171

Week of Nov. 6-12
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +9,295
People Hospitalized: +310
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +196

Week of Oct. 30-Nov. 5
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +8,771
People Hospitalized: +380
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +218

Week of Oct. 23-29
Positive COVID-19 Cases : +10,016
People Hospitalized: +448
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +239

Week of Oct. 16-22
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +11,817
People Hospitalized: +502
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +277

Week of Oct. 9-15
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +14,779
People Hospitalized: +503
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +316

Week of Oct. 4-8
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +18,831
People Hospitalized: +553
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +269

Week of Sept. 27-Oct. 1
Positive COVID-19 Cases : +19,463
People Hospitalized: +579
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +295

Week of Sept. 20-24
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +22,668
People Hospitalized: +718
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +269

Week of Sept. 13-17
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +25,370
People Hospitalized: +718
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +233

Week of Sept. 6-10
Positive COVID-19 Cases: +23,660
People Hospitalized: +670
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +137

Week of Aug. 30 - Sept. 3

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +23,515
People Hospitalized: +682
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +130

Week of Aug. 23-27

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +20,573
People Hospitalized: +674
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +122

Week of Aug. 16-20

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +16,253
People Hospitalized: +577
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +48

Week of Aug. 9-13

Positive COVID-19 Case: +13,162
People Hospitalized: +465
COVID-19-Linked Deaths : +41

Week of Aug. 2-6

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +10,280
People Hospitalized: +292
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +26

Week of July 26-30

Positive COVID-19 Casesc: +6,084
People Hospitalized: +269
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +32

Week of July 19-23

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +3,801
People Hospitalized: +131
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +23

Week of July 12-16

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +1,826
People Hospitalized: +145
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +27

Week of July 5-9

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +1,601
People Hospitalized: +158
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +23

Week of June 28-July 2

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +1,243
People Hospitalized: +268
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +30

Week of June 21-25

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +1,180
People Hospitalized: +48
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +46

Week of June 14-18

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +905
People Hospitalized: +148
COVID-19-Linked Deaths : +44

Week of June 7-11

Positive COVID-19 Cases: +1,003
People Hospitalized: +211
COVID-19-Linked Deaths: +71

**Officials with the Virginia Department of Health said the recent surge in COVID-19 cases due to omicron resulted in an increase in COVID-19-associated deaths.

"Beginning Feb. 2, VDH’s Cases dashboard began to reflect these deaths. The majority of the COVID-19-associated deaths (92%) that will be added occurred in January 2022," health department officials wrote. "Certified death certificates continue to be reported, so VDH will continue to receive new death certificates for the deaths that occurred in January 2022 and those that will occur subsequently over the next few weeks and months ahead until the Omicron surge dissipates."

*Officials with the Office of Epidemiology said ongoing Quality assurance (QA), which is conducted on all COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, is the reason for the decrease in the number of hospitalizations.

"Data quality assurance is currently occurring for all previously reported and current cases, hospitalizations, and death amongst various localities," officials wrote. "This past week, we have seen a large decrease in hospitalizations due to QA in the Eastern Region. Specifically in Norfolk, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton and Chesapeake. On November 23, Fairfax completed a bulk QA of 200 hospitalizations."

Officials also stressed that "all data are considered preliminary and subject to change." Read more on that here.