Fairfax Health District’s COVID-19 count surpasses 200,000 cases

Roughly 27 months after its first reported infection, the Fairfax Health District has officially recorded more than 200,000 COVID-19 cases.

To be exact, there have now been 202,162 cases in Fairfax County and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, according to the Fairfax County Health Department. 4,568 residents have been hospitalized, and 1,518 residents have died during the pandemic.

The spring surge in transmission continued over the three-day Memorial Day weekend, with 1,469 new cases reported for Saturday through Monday (May 28-30). Another 335 cases were added today (Tuesday), bringing the district’s weekly average up to 604.4 cases per day.

That is slightly down from 614 cases yesterday (Monday), which was the highest seven-day average since Feb. 2 (636 cases).

The Virginia Department of Health’s data dashboard suggests the current case trajectory is starting to flatten out. After climbing from around 300 cases at the beginning of May to more than 500 cases at the month’s midpoint, the district’s weekly average increased at about half that rate over the latter half of May.

However, the testing positivity rate remains high, reaching 18% as of Friday (May 27). That’s the highest mark since Jan. 24. The number of tests conducted per day has ticked down over the past week, from a spring high of 2,808 encounters last Tuesday (May 24) to 2,587 on Friday.

With a case rate per 100,000 residents of 355.81, Fairfax County’s community COVID-19 level is still “medium,” per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 7.7 new Covid-related hospital admissions per 100,000 residents over the past week, and 3% of staffed, inpatient beds are being used by people with the disease.

According to the county health department, 993,197 Fairfax Health District residents, or 83.9% of the population, have received at least one Covid vaccine dose, including:

• 92.6% of people 18 and older
• 98.7% of 16-17 year olds
• 94.6% of 12-15 year olds
• 59.97% of 5-11 year olds

The district has 904,487 fully vaccinated residents, who constitute 76.4% of the population. That includes 84.6% of adults.

According to the VDH, 512,434 Fairfax County residents, or 44.5%, have gotten a third or booster dose, including 54% of adults and 35.5% of adolescents aged 12-17.

Neither the county nor the state health department lists data for how many kids aged 5 to 11 have gotten a booster now that they’re eligible.