With more than 1,114 hospitalized and 6,889 cases confirmed in the Old Dominion, the lockdown is expected to continue until at least mid-May and potentially June.
The latest report on Virginia’s infections from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), also shows 208 dead and 46,444 tested in the Commonwealth.
Nationally, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports 644,806 infections and 28,580 deaths. Worldwide, deaths stood at 136,112 with more than 2.2 million infected, says the World Health Organization.
Floyd County’s confirmed virus count remains at 1 while Fairfax County in Northern Virginia topes the Commonwealth’s locality rate with 1,375. Patrick County remains one of six localities with no confirmed cases.
In our area, Montgomery County has 34 cases, Roanoke City 24, Roanoke County 19 and Franklin County 15.
While bluster, based more on propaganda than scientific fact, continues to dominate the nation’s capital, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam Wednesday made it clear that states, not the federal government, determine what is open an not open in America.
Northam extended Virginia’s shutdown of “non-essential” businesses that was to expire next week until at least May 8 and his stay-at-home order is in place until June 10.
More than 22 million Americans filed for unemployment in the last four weeks and analysts expect the jobless rate, now at 22 percent, to remain at 10 percent or more through the end of the year.
The 5.2 million who filed last week now put job loss the highest since the Great Depression as much of the area, the state, and the nation is shut down.
“We are going to go through a couple of quarters, at least, where things will be bad,” Patrick Harker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia told media Wednesday. “I could see a [jobless] number hovering around or slightly below 20 percent, even.”
The current unemployment rate does not include “gig” workers and others who are not employed fulltime by regular businesses and don’t normally qualify for unemployment payments. At least 19 states, including Virginia, have said they will let those apply for such benefits, which could bring in $600 a week in benefits, if and when they get the bugs worked out.
Updated: 04:01 GMT 12:01 am EDT (Updated on 04/17/20)
Virginia:
Number Tested: 46,444
Confirmed Cases: 6,889
Hospitalized: 1,114
Deaths: 208
In Our Area
- Floyd County: 1
- Montgomery County: 34
- Franklin County: 15
- Carroll County: 3
- Roanoke City: 24
- Roanoke County: 19
- Salem: 4
- Pulaski County 5
- Wythe County: 7
- Patrick County: 0
- Grayson County 0
United States
Infections: 678,144
Deaths : 34,641
Recoveries: 57,754
Worldwide:
Infections: 2,182,823
Deaths: 145,551
Recovered: 547,589
Virginia localities with high numbers:
- Fairfax 1,375
- Prince William 582
- Henrico 467
- Arlington 453
- Loudoun 378
- Virginia Beach 228
(Information obtained from the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and the Virginia Department of Health.)