Heather Bell
NEW RIVER VALLEY – According to the Virginia Department of Health, the New River Health District is “crushing COVID.”
In its regularly issued statement about the state of COVID-19 in the New River Health District, Robert Parker, Public Information Officer of the VDH, Western Region, included information about current cases of COVID-19 in the health district versus what was predicted by the University of Virginia study model For the week of Sept 13, the health district had 535 fewer cases than predicted by the UVa model. For the week of Sept. 20, it is predicted the health district will have approximately 1,000 fewer cases than the model predicted.
The lower actual case numbers show the continuing success of the New River Valley
community to suppress COVID‐19 spread,” reads the VDH statement.
In Radford, the latest numbers as of press time show 716 totalcases, with seven hospitalizations and one death. The New River Health District has 2,970 cases, with 53 hospitalizations and 14 deaths.
Also, the Virginia Department of Health confirmed on Sept.18 that the state has had its first COVID-19 death of a child.
Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced “an adolescent resident in the Southside Health District who tested positive for COVID-19 has died,” in a written statement Sept.18.
“This is the first reported COVID-19 death of a child in the Commonwealth,” the statement reads. “VDH will disclose no further information about the teenager to protect privacy and out of respect for the patient’s family.”
“We were extremely saddened to learn of the loss of the state’s first adolescent with COVID-19. On behalf of all of us at VDH, I extend sincere condolences to the teenager’s family and loved ones,” said State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver, M.D., M.A. “No age group is immune from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this unfortunate event, along with the increasing numbers of coronavirus cases we are seeing in some areas of the Commonwealth, is a reminder that we all need to do our part to help slow the spread of virus in the community.”
