The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:
• Thursday, Jan. 26, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Southside Women, Infants and Children Office, 509 E. Southside Plaza; 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. – Fulton Neighborhood Resource Center, 1519 Williamsburg Road.
Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com.
The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID-19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites.
Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?
The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free vaccines for COVID-19 and more at the following locations:
• Wednesday, Feb. 1, 10 a.m. to Noon – Henrico West Health Department, 8600 Dixon Powers Dr., JYNNEOS and flu shots; 2 to 4 p.m. – Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent booster for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months and older and bivalent boosters for age 5 and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older and boosters for age 18 and older, flu shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.
• Thursday, Feb. 2, 2 to 4 p.m. – Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent boosters for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months to 11 years and bivalent boosters for age 5 years and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older and boosters for age 18 and older, Flu shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.
People can schedule an appointment online at vase.vdh.virginia.gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or by calling (804) 205- 3501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682).
VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.
Those who are getting a booster shot should bring their vaccine card to confirm the date and type of vaccine received.
RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations by calling (804) 205-3501 to schedule appointments.
New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for those aged 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for those age 18 and older.
As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID- 19 vaccine.
The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are now offering bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11 in clinics in the near future. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.
New COVID-19 cases in Virginia fell 34 percent during the last week, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health, while data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association showed hospitalizations statewide dropped 15 percent since last Wednesday.
Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico County are now all at medium levels of community COVID-19 as of last week. Sixteen localities in Virginia are ranked at high community COVID levels, while 62 were ranked at medium as of last week.
A total of 1,589 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Tuesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,251,042 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Wednesday, there have been 457,773 hospitalizations and 23,088 deaths were reported statewide on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, state health officials reported that over 18.2 million COVID-19 doses had been administered, with 73.7 percent of the state’s population fully vaccinated at the time. State data also showed that over 5.2 million people in Virginia have received booster shots or third doses of the vaccine.
Among ages 5 to 11 in Virginia, 342,787 have received their first shots as of Tuesday, accounting for 47.3 percent of the age group in the state, while 301,589 children, or 41.6 percent, are fully vaccinated. In this age group, 54,507 children have received a monovalent booster, making up 7.5 percent, while 38,918 have gotten a bivalent booster shot, accounting for 13.3 percent of this group.
As of Tuesday, 64,710 children from the ages of newborn to 4 have received their first doses, making up 14.2 percent of the population in Virginia, while 50,565 are fully vaccinated, or 11.1 percent of the population. On Tuesday, fewer than 449,545 cases, 2,126 hospitalizations and 36 deaths were recorded among children in the state.
State data also shows that African-Americans comprised 22.1 percent of cases statewide and 22.1 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 11 percent of cases and 4.6 percent of deaths.
As of Tuesday, Richmond reported a total of 61,386 cases, 1,282 hospitalizations and 547 deaths; Henrico County, 88,863 cases, 1,714 hospitalizations and 1,073 deaths; Chesterfield County, 98,401 cases, 1,758 hospitalizations and 870 deaths; and Hanover County, 28,590 cases, 891 hospitalizations and 344 deaths.
Compiled by George Copeland Jr.
