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Richmond COVID-19 Cases Trending Up Because of Outbreaks

After more than a month of declining COVID-19 cases, Richmond’s numbers have been trending up over the last few days.

Doctor Danny Avula said some of the increase can be attributed to a significant outbreak of more than 30 cases at an assisted living facility.

He also said Thursday that the health department is investigating an outbreak following a wedding.  It’s resulted in multiple cases across the Richmond region.  "If you choose to go to events like this, do your homework.  See how much of it can be pushed outside. See how safe you can be and that people are wearing masks and maintaining distance," Avula suggested.   "When you see that break down and you see people start to get too comfortable and embrace and get too close to each other, remind yourself that COVID is still out there and this is exactly the kinds of events we’re going to see spread emanating from."

Avula said he could not release more information about the wedding or the assisted living facility but said they're good examples to remind people that the spread of COVID-19 is still there. "As we look back over our cluster investigations over the last month or so, weddings, funerals, other large gatherings seem to be the types of things that continue to drive large clusters."

Richmond's case counts had been trending down for 35 days, but in the last few days it's increased to 9.7 cases per 100,000 population Avula said.  The city's percent positivity has continued to trend down for 32 days and stands at 2.9%. The statewide positivity rate is 4.8%.

David Seidel is Radio IQ's News Director.