Richmond, Henrico, & much of Central VA Enter High COVID-19 Community Levels

Swiped from Ross Catrow over at Good Morning RVA who once again summarizes the situation better than I could.

As of last night, Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield all have a high COVID-19 Community Level. 7-day case rates per 100,000 people in each of the localities are 274, 297, and 309, respectively (the threshold for a high level is 200). The 7-day rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people for the whole region is 10.5 (the threshold for a high level is 10). This is the first time we’ve seen a high level in Central Virginia, and it does meaningfully change the CDC’s guidance for individuals: Everyone, regardless of vaccination status, should wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public. I don’t think we’ll ever again see any sort of mask mandates—especially not from the current state-level leadership—as we’ve mostly thrown up our hands over requiring public health measures, but you may see employers and businesses change their masking policies over the next few days. If you haven’t yet, you probably should just keep a mask or two stashed in each of your bags.

Here’s another reason to build a good mask habit: Yesterday, Virginia reported its first case of Monkeypox. Luckily(?), the patient had traveled to Africa and was not infectious during their travel back to Virginia—so we’re not seeing the disease spread around in the community (not yet at least). To quote the release: “No additional cases have been detected in Virginia at this time.” OK, whew, but I’m keeping an eye on you, Monkeypox.

Here is the official statement from state health officials and below are some graphics to help visualize where we’re at.