it's probably because nobody wears masks anymore? not to mention it's the holiday season so people are unmasked in close quarters more often than any other time of the year. we also have a travel hub here with the train and the airport

we're also a college town? and college kids spread disease like it's their job

It's just sort of odd it changed up in the last couple of weeks. On Wednesday, Richmond was #3 in the state for new COVID cases.

Chesterfield is running about half of what Richmond is producing, and Henrico was always there big time but seems to be taking a small break.

This data is only for the past week or so, but when I saw Richmond three times came in #2 in the state for new cases (population about 230,000), I was surprised. It was only beat by a county with a population of about 880,000 (Fairfax County), which just seemed weird.

Edit: left out some words

I suspect, in reality, Henrico is a lot closer to Richmond's number than the number Henrico is reporting. Maybe lower income areas of Richmond are more likely to get tested at health department where numbers are tracked, where everybody in Henrico is self testing?

It really feels like you can’t put any stock in the official numbers anymore. I and everyone I know got covid in August when the state and city numbers were flat. Also no one reports when they have it, so almost all cases go unnoticed.

I got Covid for the first time and had I not known I had been around people who were positive I would have thought it was sinuses or allergies. I started a hybrid schedule at work 3 months ago and got it from my coworkers.

I was told that the vaccination rate was low, could be a cause. And yes, very few are masking and EVERYTHING is open to the masses. I have yet to have it. 🤞

yeah, most people haven't gotten their boosters yet so that'll do it

Wait. Didn't President Biden proclaim recently that Covid was over? Perhaps he was mistaken?

that’s probably a big part of it

You can’t even report when you have it and test positive on a home test. Or I couldn’t when I had it

He said the pandemic was over. Which it is. Covid is endemic now.

https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/see-the-numbers/covid-19-in-virginia/covid-19-in-virginia-outbreaks/

I mean this says richmond is at 41 outbreaks vs 43 for henrico so idk

I caught it for the first time also and it was pretty mild. My friend caught it in October and was in the hospital for a bit but was discharged. Ended up developing pneumonia and she passed away yesterday. She was in her mid 30s with no health conditions.

I've now had it three times. It's endemic and just another virus. The numbers are irrelevant given the proliferation of take home tests. My kid has the common cold and it's kicking his but. He's been down for 5 days with terrible sore throat and congestion.

Is it odd? The last two winters cases skyrocketed why should we expect differently?

This is the biggest reason. Numbers are artificially low because the data is only based on PCR testing done in a lab. Since alot of people use rapid home tests now, positives don't get counted. Is this a stupid public health policy? Yes. But our gov probably loves it this way since his fan base includes covid minimizers.

but that's the way it is in every state. this is not some conspiracy theory.

this isn't really something you need to worry about anymore.

That’s so sad, I’m sorry for your loss.

Could some of it be more indoor activities due to the cold?

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Let's be honest, there's not one party of COVID minimizers anymore.

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I think the question is why is Richmond high, but Henrico low? Most of Covid, they’ve been similar. My guess is it’s a data reporting issue - maybe for some reason, people in the city are using testing resources that get reported in the stats more than Henrico residents?

Look, just because most conspiracy theories are ridiculous doesn't mean that all of them are wrong. Especially if the people promoting the "conspiracy" are a good number of highly trained experts commenting on something within their field, as many epidemiologists and public health officials on social media are.
Numbers are artificially low across the board because, although lab tests are (as far as I know) consistently reported, self-report is inaccurate. Large amounts of people believe that Covid is a hoax, so they won't report their cases. Among those who aren't in denial, only a fraction will actually report their cases, whether because they don't know they should or because of access issues.
Additionally, I've been seeing larger and larger numbers of anecdotal reports that local governments (especially right-leaning ones) are suppressing numbers. Whether that's because they're too swamped to accurately report, or because they're deliberately trying to make us "return to normal" so the economy doesn't have to be restructured, I don't know.
What I do know is that Richmond is a relatively progressive oasis among the surrounding counties. Henrico, Hanover, and Chesterfield residents aren't politically uniform, but their representatives are overwhelmingly Republican, sometimes very right-wing Republicans.
Personally, I think it has to do with the way Covid denial and number suppression happens on a political level. I don't think it's a coincidence that the more conservative counties are touting lower numbers: it fits with their agenda.

If you’re working for the state and get Covid there’s an active effort to downplay it. Sick people are sent home to work with the expectation of working through it remotely or else. A lot of actively sick people had to describe themselves as merely exposed.

A majority of the Richmond-metro area's hospital beds are located in Richmond, COVID results are probably attributed to the locality of the reporting hospital not the locality of the patient's residence. MCV and Chippenham are both in Richmond with ~1400 beds combined. Henrico Doctor's hospital is carrying the weight of Henrico with 767 beds. St Francis in Midlothian has 130 beds. This could be where and why the numbers are getting funky because I'm pretty sure most hospitals still require a COVID test for inpatient admissions.

COVID nurse here. You're dead wrong

You sure that's not Richmond County?

It's really nbd to get your bivalent covid and flu shots. I haven't heard anyone with adverse reactions or otherwise getting flattened by their immune system response to them. Supply should be good now and you can get them for free on the same day in a lot of places.

Positive

Edit: Richmond County is 22.17 per 100,000.

> A majority of the Richmond-metro area's hospital beds are located in Richmond, COVID results are probably attributed to the locality of the reporting hospital not the locality of the patient's residence.

VDH accounts for this and puts in location corrections. If you live in Chesterfield, VDH will consider it a Chesterfield COVID case, even if you are in a hospital in Richmond. The COVID report sent to VDH (by a hospital) has your address on it, and they code it based on that. If a screw up happens, a correction is issued.

These corrections for similar situations were put into the VDH database Wednesday:

Galax (-1 case)
New Kent County (-1 case)
Northampton County (-1 case)
Covington (-1 case)
Bath County (-1 case)
James City County (-3 cases)
Lexington (-4 cases)
Norton (-7 cases)
Colonial Heights (-10 cases)
Radford (-11 cases)

data from VDH database

Edit: corrected a wrong word

That's...well, I smell politics.

> I don't think it's a coincidence that the more conservative counties are touting lower numbers: it fits with their agenda.

Although the CDC this week left the main counties that have a higher rate in the Southwest of the state. But politics is always going to get into things.

Problem is, each time you get covid, more organs, etc., inside usually get damaged, so we are going to see a lot of problems down the line.

Solid Source: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/covid-reinfections-and-long-covid
and an earlier article
https://erictopol.substack.com/p/a-reinfection-red-flag

If you need to find out who Eric Topol is, he is on wikipedia.

Virginia is actually at a very low point at the moment....bottom of a curve and a new curve (surge) for COVID has not yet started.

Wednesday:

/r/coronavirusVA/comments/z2w9b4/virginia_covid_case_hospital_numbers_report_for/

/r/coronavirusVA/comments/z4nf5u/virginia_breakdown_by_citycounty_of_new_covid/

Sorry he is under the weather.

As per COVID three times, there is this (solid source):

https://erictopol.substack.com/p/covid-reinfections-and-long-covid

I got them together and it wasn't pleasant. The first two covid shots/booster were fine. I think it's the flu shot that made me feel like crap for two days.

Wednesday, Richmond was #3 in the state, only beat out by two high population northern VA counties.

Edit: /r/coronavirusVA/comments/z4nf5u/virginia_breakdown_by_citycounty_of_new_covid/

Open mouth, insert foot on that one.

Edit: I think he said it thinking it would help the mid-terms. And at least we did get less crazies in office than we thought we were...

Yes, you are correct in the vaccination rate being low. Real low. One Virginia county has only something like 0.5% of the residents vaxxed. And if you guessed it was in a "red" area, you would be correct.

I have not had COVID yet either, nor my spouse who works in healthcare and has patients with COVID she is hands on with.

We are far lower in the curve now than in August. We are in a bottom.

Damn, sorry to hear that.

I have a friend who did the same thing you did; both at once. Knocked her on her butt for about four days. And I think you are correct. From what I've been hearing, the flu vaccine can really kick your ass.

Thanks. I'm just going to assume I'll get it once a year going forward.

Sorry for your loss. That is very scary.

BTW, I put this up here in good faith asking if anyone knew anything. I live near Richmond and am the main poster for the Virginia COVID subboard. I was not taking potshots at anyone, but was generally curious why I had seen a change recently in the city. I've been a member of the RVA board for a fairly long time.

In my experience, if i have any lingering crud in my system that already has my body on high alert, it lights up like a Christmas tree with a flu shot. All of the wild temperature fluctuations, colds, RSV, made the flu shot more annoying to time.

I agree. A number of variables.

Covid? That’s so 2021.

Thanks for the resource! I'm making the transition between KN95 masks and N95 respirators at present. My only reservation about the article is that people will see his summary of the numbers on how effective current intramuscular mRNA vaccines are against *Omicron* specifically and oversimplify it down to "vaccines are useless!" But then again, most of the people likely to do that probably aren't reading the Substack of a cardiologist-turned-researcher. I don't know. Fingers crossed about the nasal vaccines, though.

Mmm, my bivalent booster knocked me flat. Fever of 103, headache that wouldn't go away, and nausea/vomiting. It was an awful 24 hours and I almost went to urgent care to see if they could help me stop the vomiting, but thankfully it turned a corner. I had my flu shot a few weeks prior and had a mildly sore arm.

Most people are in their own bubble, news wise.

Coworkers who come in sick. The gift that keeps on giving. How bad did it get with you -- just "sinuses or allergies" as you said, or did it hit harder?

Thankfully it wasn’t too bad. Mostly head congestion, sore throat and low grade fever. It was only 1 day that I stayed in bed.

TIL there's actually someone still paying attention to COVID numbers

More than one: /r/coronavirusVA/

Edit: the regular Coronavirus sub has 2,300,822 readers.

Had them both at the same time, no reaction. But I've never had a reaction from a flu shot nor the 3 previous covid shots.

Lucky you....that's a fairly rare situation to have, but a good one.

That's so weird

Covid's over havent ya heard? Your only cool if you get the Flu and or RSV now