The number of positive COVID-19 cases in Virginia grew to 1,250 Tuesday, up from 1,020 the day before.
The Virginia Department of Health also reported two additional deaths, bringing the state's total to 27. 13,401 tests have been conducted.
In western Virginia, the Montgomery County Public Health Task Force planned to begin its first drive-thru testing site Monday. The location at Blacksburg High School is not open to the public and patients must have an appointment and letter of authorization from the New River Health District to be tested. The testing results will help medical professionals determine the prevelance of the illness in the region, according to Dr. Noelle Bissell. Bissell is the director of the New River Health District. Because of limited capacity, Bissell said in an email that tests are only being conducted on those who meet high risk criteria. Other sites will open around the region from time to time, depending on the need, the email said.
Officials with Centra Health, the main health care system in the Lynchburg area, say they expect to be able to handle the surge of patients with existing hospital resources. During an electronic news conference Tuesday, Dr. Andy Mueller said they've been reviewing existing pandemic modeling from the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania. Mueller said that modeling shows the peak of cases in Centra's service area coming in early or mid-May. But he said even the worst-case scenarios don't indicate a demand for hospital and ICU beds that cannot be quickly met. "I don't believe we've seen any models yet that make us believe that we're not going to have enough ventilators or capacity to care for patients," Mueller said.
Centra has seen 26 positive COVD-19 cases so far. Four have required hospitalization and three of those cases are critical.
