The Western Tidewater Health District experienced wild swings in the number of cases reported over the weekend and Monday.

There were no new cases reported at all in Monday’s report from the Virginia Department of Health. It was the first day since March 28 that there were no new cases in the district.

However, Sunday’s report included 48 new cases, many of which were in Southampton County. It was the district’s second-largest one-day increase in the number of new cases during the pandemic. The largest was April 23, when a batch of positive test results from Deerfield Correctional Center in Southampton County was reported. However, the latest increase is not attributable to Deerfield, since the number of cases there reported by the Virginia Department of Corrections remained steady over the weekend.

Saturday had seen four new cases, with six on Friday.

Dr. Todd Wagner, director of the Western Tidewater Health District, attributed the disparate results to “ebbs and flows” that occur naturally with such a large number of test results being reported.

“I don’t believe there is a particular trend,” he said. “We are continuing to monitor closely.”

In all, the district has 371 cases of COVID-19. These include laboratory-confirmed cases as well as “probable” cases — those with symptoms and a known exposure.

Suffolk has 147 cases, followed by Southampton County with 115, Isle of Wight County with 93 and Franklin with 16.

Throughout the district, 43 of these patients are hospitalized. Eight people in the district have died.

Statewide, 80,180 people have been tested, with 13,535 cases. There have been 458 deaths in the state.

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports 913 positive COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, with 542 hospitalized with results pending. The two groups combined number 389 patients in the ICU and 217 on a ventilator. Statewide, 21 percent of the total ventilators on hand are in use for all patients, no matter the reason for their stay.

 

There have been 1,843 patients statewide hospitalized and then discharged.