Numbers can tell tales, and it’s unfortunate that many of us are virtually illiterate when it comes to math.
It’s a grim job to total up the toll that COVID-19 is accruing in this pandemic, but you have to bring some perspective to the raw numbers. In tallying deaths caused by the coronavirus, you get a bit of an understanding of how hard it is hitting a particular population by breaking the raw numbers into a generally accepted standard, in this case deaths per 100,000 population.
This came up earlier in the week in a sit-down session President Donald Trump had with Jonathan Swan of "Axios" on HBO.
Across the world, the United States is No. 8 in the highest number of deaths per 100,000 population, according to NPR. Looking at nations with 50,000 or more COVID-19 deaths, the U.S. rate per 100,000 is 47.9. Belgium tops the chart with a rate of 86.3, followed by the United Kingdom at 69.6.
NPR’s Jessica Craig adds additional perspective by delving into case-fatality ratios, a measure of the number of deaths per number of people who contract the disease. The COVID-19 case-fatality rate in the United States is about 3%, or 3 deaths per 100 people with the virus. In a ranking on that measure, the U.S. is No. 24; that chart is topped by the United Kingdom, with a rate of 15.1%
The Virginia Department of Health has an extensive COVID-19 tracking website that includes a breakdown of cases, hospitalizations and deaths per 100,000 population for each county and independent city.
The state average per 100,000 for Virginia is 1,116, with deaths attributed to the virus at 27 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Looking at today's updated numbers from the Department of Health, in metro Richmond and the Tri-cities area, Petersburg has the highest rates of COVID-19-related cases and hospitalizations and is second in deaths attributed to the virus. Here’s the breakdown:
COVID CASES PER 100,000 (number of actual cases in parentheses)
- Petersburg: 1,562 (493)
- Richmond: 1,341 (3,067)
- Chesterfield: 1,210 (4,216)
- Hopewell: 1,151 (260)
- Henrico: 1,137 (3,742)
- Colonial Heights: 1,060 (189)
Virginia: 1,116 (95,867)
COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS PER 100,000
- Petersburg: 203 (64)
- Colonial Heights: 129 (23)
- Richmond: 126 (289)
- Hopewell: 102 (23)
- Henrico: 99 (327)
- Chesterfield: 63 (77)
COVID-19 DEATHS PER 100,000
- Colonial Heights: 118 (21)
- Petersburg: 60 (19)
- Henrico: 55 (182)
- Hopewell: 22 (5)
- Chesterfield: 22 (77)
- Richmond: 18 (41)
Virginia: 27 (2,229)
CAPSULES
Richmond health and medicine news in brief
Access the full report on the Virginia Department of Health website.
OVERLOOKED EPIDEMIC: Even as we’re mostly focused on the pandemic, another crisis, deaths from drug abuse, continues in the commonwealth. The Virginia Department of Health Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in July issued its fatal drug overdose report for the first quarter of the year. The state reports there were 445 drug overdose deaths through March, the highest number for a first quarter at least through 2007. The medical examiner’s office projects that on the current trajectory, the state will see another record year of overdose deaths, with 1,699. Virginia suffered its worst year for drug overdose deaths last year, with 1,626.
Dr. Rachel R. Waller (Photo courtesy Health Brigade)
ASSUMING THE LEAD: Management changes have occurred at Health Brigade and VCU Health. At the nonprofit Health Brigade, Dr. Rachel R. Waller has assumed duties as medical director. Waller comes to Health Brigade from a stint as medical director for VCU’s ACC Resident Primary Care Practice, according to a release. A VCU School of Medicine graduate, she had worked with Health Brigade’s predecessor, the Fan Free Clinic, as a volunteer two decades ago while she was a student.
Dr. Arthur Kellerman (Photo courtesy VCU Health)
At VCU, Dr. Arthur L. Kellermann will serve as vice president for health sciences and as CEO of VCU Health System, according to a release. He has served since 2013 as medical school dean at the University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, and will assume duties in Richmond in October. The VCU posts have been held on an interim basis since January by Dr. Peter F. Buckley, the dean of VCU’s medical school and executive vice president of medical affairs for VCU Health.
MASK UP: Richmond’s three major health systems are collaborating on a campaign to encourage metro area residents to wear masks and help slow the spread of coronavirus. The campaign is #MaskUpRVA, a joint effort of Bon Secours, HCA Virginia and VCU Health. A statement signed by the chief medical officer of each entity notes:
“In Central Virginia, we are seeing infection and death rates stabilize and remain relatively low compared to other states, which is one of the reasons our region has been able to progress to Phase 3. Yet, we are not out of the woods.
"As seen in other parts of the country, COVID-19 can surge if masks are not worn in outdoor or indoor spaces where we encounter others. We must keep at it, because masks are working.”
