WASHINGTON — It’s Wednesday, January 6, and as of today, more than 2,200 people in the DMV are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
While vaccinating began in the DMV the week of December 14, both currently approved vaccines require multiple shots. For the Pfizer vaccine, there needs to be a three-week space between inoculations. For the Moderna vaccine, its four weeks. Johnson & Johnson is still working on a vaccine that will only require one dose.
In total, more than 220,000 people have now received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine in the DMV. Virginia is still leading the region in doses administered, but on Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced a new rolling vaccine distribution system aimed at getting doses out faster.
If you’re just here for the numbers, here’s how things look today.
- D.C. reported 316 new cases of the coronavirus and 5 new deaths on Wednesday. It’s the first time in two weeks the city has reported more than 300 cases in a single day.
- Maryland reported 3,146 new cases of the coronavirus and 47 new deaths on Wednesday.
- Virginia reported 5,387 new cases of the coronavirus and 35 new deaths on Wednesday. Four out of the last seven days have seen more than 5,000 new cases a day.
How are things in the DMV?
I haven’t been writing much about D.C. recently because things there have mostly been staying the same. “The same” is, it should be said, not great – the city is still averaging almost 250 new cases a day and four deaths – but numbers aren’t still setting new records like we’re seeing in Maryland and Virginia.
Speaking of… both Maryland and Virginia set new all-time high COVID-19 hospitalization numbers on Wednesday. In Maryland, 1,862 patients are now hospitalized with the virus – an increase of 170 patients in just four days. In Virginia, that number is now 2,925 patients.
The growth in Virginia’s testing positivity rate hasn’t slowed either. It’s been a nearly straight-line upward since mid-December, when it was at 11%. As of Wednesday, nearly 17% of all coronavirus tests in the commonwealth are coming back positive. That’s the highest rate since early May, when the initial wave of the pandemic was still in full swing.