Martinsville-region COVID-19/coronavirus daily update from state, nation and world: Sept. 21 | Local News

September 21, 2020 steven

There was only one new case of COVID-19 this morning across the West Piedmont Health District. That was in Henry County. There also no new hospitalizations or deaths. That means there have been nearly 2,000 cases (1,963) in the district since the beginning of the pandemic. The death count is 62, and there have been 237 hospitalizations. Local officials are now very happy that high school sports has a schedule to resume. State officials voted last week to resume events in December, starting with winter sports. The calendar may be upside down, but the kids get a chance to play. More than half of of the states are reporting a rise in COVID-19 as the U.S. reaches the 200,000 level for deaths. Wisconsin, Idaho, South Dakota, Iowa and Kansas are among the states reporting more new cases in the past seven days, along with a coronavirus positivity rate above 15%. Still, some states are seeing improvements. Meanwhile, the CDC says there is growing evidence that the coronavirus can be spread through viral particles lingering in the air and that those droplets can travel distances beyond 6 feet. Check out eight charts that show how the virus spreads. The Virginia Department of Health reports this morning there have been 141,138 cases and 3,021 deaths statewide — up by 6 from Sunday. Some 10,613 people have been hospitalized. Henry County has had 1,007 cases, with 110 hospitalizations and 20 deaths. Martinsville has had 375 cases, with 60 hospitalizations and 15 deaths. Patrick County has had 271 cases including 51 hospitalizations and 24 deaths. Franklin County has had 310 cases, 16 hospitalizations and 3 deaths. Danville has reported 831 cases, and Pittsylvania County has had 959. Johns Hopkins University’s real-time map showed 31,092,895 cases worldwide and 961,273 deaths. In the U.S. there are 6,812,470. There have been 199,517 deaths in the U.S. because of COVID-19.