As most of Virginia entered the first phase of the governor's reopening plan Friday, the Virginia Department of Health tweaked its testing data reports.
During a news conference Friday, Governor Ralph Northam addressed the situation related to why less-reliable serology, or antibody, tests were included in the daily tally of tests from the Virginia Department of Health.
He said that he only recently discovered that the department was including those tests in the tally and immediately directed them to change their practice -- which has now been done. Northam said the data shows that the state is still trending in the right direction now that the antibody tests are being tallied separately.
In Friday morning's data update, the state began separating the diagnostic (PCR) tests used to confirm a COVID-19 infection. 176,681 PCR tests have been conducted since the crisis began. When serology test are added in, the total jumps to 195,682. 10,131 new test results of all types were added to the database in Friday morning's update. That's the first time the total testing data has reached the 10,000 tests-per-day goal set by state officials. The 7-day average positivity rate for PCR testing is about 15%, down from a high of about 22% in mid-April.
859 new cases of COVID-19 were reported Friday morning, raising the state's total to 28,672 cases. 22 additional deaths were reported, increasing Virginia's death count to 977.
The number of hospital beds in use has slowly crept upward over the last few days as hospitals have resumed non-emergency procedures. But the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and the useage of ventilators have remained flat, according to data from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.
During his news conference Friday, Governor Northam also discussed the state's efforts to ramp up public testing sites and how his administration has approved a delay in entering Phase One for the city of Richmond and Accomack County on the state's Eastern Shore.
Virginia Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne addressed the state's economic outlook during the news conference -- saying that the state has weathered the situation fairly well thanks to a strong economy heading into the pandemic. Nevertheless, Virginia is expecting a billion dollar loss in revenues by the end of June. Layne stressed that beginning the reopening process Friday will important to see how the economy responds before financial forecasts will need to be tweaked this summer.
Northam relayed that maintaining regulations during Phase One -- including social distancing and wearing masks while out in public -- will remain vital. He also said that VDH has the authority to shut down businesses and restraurants that do not comply with those regulations.
State Health Commissioner Norman Oliver said that he has not reached a decision on whether to recsind an order forcing the city of Petersburg to turn water back on for some of its residents. He has spoken with city leaders about the situation.
The governor has also been in touch with the state's Congressional delegation in hopes of getting more flexibility from the federal government in terms of unemployment benefits. He also addressed Culpeper Sheriff Scott Jenkins, who has said he will not enforce the governor's regulations under Phase One. Northam said he doesn't think that is a good idea and that his administration will deal with that situation.
**Note: An earlier version of this story said that state officials are expecting a billion dollar loss in revenues by the beginning of June. The story has been updated to indicate that revenue shortfall is expected by the end of June.
