LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — Loudoun County is dealing with a spike in COVID-19 cases that the Virginia Dept. of Health dashboard shows hasn’t been as high since early February, despite having more than 111,000 vaccine doses administered.
“Loudoun’s seven-day total average and total average contains the PCR, the antibody, and the antigens test is 7.8%," Loudoun County Supervisor Chair Phyllis Randall said. "If you just take PCR alone, it's about 6.6%, which is about four points higher than other counties. I am concerned that our number is not below 5%.”
Randall said like everybody else in America people are exhausted with COVID-19. She said COVID fatigue and an outbreak within Loudoun County Public Schools are attributing to the county’s sudden increase in cases.
“We know there was a sports activity that took place, not here but in Richmond, and a lot of our kids who were part of that sport attended that activity," Randall said. "And then some of those kids came back positive, and of course, when they come back, they pass it to family, so we can trace it back. Once those two weeks pass we'll take a look at the numbers again and we'll if it starts trending down if we can get below 5%.”
There have been 20 COVID cases reported at Independence High School, including a staff member, after student-athletes initially tested positive.
A spokesperson for Loudoun County Public Schools said Wednesday 15 LCPS student-athletes have tested positive for the virus. The Loudoun County Health Department said it is working with school and club teams to identify any cases or close contacts.
WUSA9 inquired if cheerleaders were infected because of competition in Richmond. The Health Department said there have been clubs for which outbreaks have been associated with travel to and from Richmond, but the Health Department can’t say the infection originated at the competition itself.
“The Health Department did not indicate that cheerleaders were infected because they all went to a Richmond competition," a health department spokesperson said. "Outbreaks can occur whenever mitigation strategies are not fully followed, including maintaining 6-foot distancing, wearing masks, staying home when sick, quarantining when exposed, and socializing only in small groups."
As for the feeling of COVID fatigue, Randall wants people to know that the light at the end of the tunnel continues to shine bright.
“We will get there, but for now we're not," she said. "And so I would ask that people continue to wear masks, and continue to social distance if they're not fully vaccinated, to follow all those CDC and VDH guidelines if they're not fully vaccinated. And that's the only way we're going to get that number below 5% and get through this pandemic.”