Virginia adds more than 1,100 COVID cases overnight

RICHMOND, Va.  – The Virginia Department of Health is reporting 165,238 total cases of COVID-19 in the commonwealth as of Saturday, October 17, going back to the beginning of the pandemic in March. That’s up from 164,124 reported Friday, a 1,114-case increase, which is a slightly smaller increase than the 1,183 new cases reported from Thursday to Friday.

2,366,380 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests have been conducted, with a 4.9 percent positive rate over the last week, higher than the 4.8 percent reported Friday.

10,170 of Virginia’s overall cases are considered “probable.”

There are 3,422 recorded coronavirus-related deaths in the commonwealth since the pandemic’s beginning, up from the 3,408 reported Friday.

993 people across Virginia are hospitalized as of Saturday with confirmed or test-pending cases of COVID-19. That’s down from the 1,002 reported Friday. 18,996 COVID patients have been released from hospitals in Virginia since the beginning of the pandemic. That’s according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, which gets a daily report from hospitals around the commonwealth.

These hospital numbers are different from those reported by VDH, which only gathers hospitalization status at the time each case is investigated by VDH, and is an under-representation of Virginia hospitalizations.

COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus

Any new confirmed cases from health departments throughout the state the rest of the day won’t show up until at least the following day on the state list, as the official numbers are only updated once a day, with a 5 p.m. cutoff each day for new cases to be reflected on the next day’s list.