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Buckingham County’s coronavirus cases reached 137 as of Saturday, May 2, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

 While it seems the numbers are beginning to reflect the outbreak of cases in the county’s correctional facilities, Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) reports of new cases at Buckingham prisons are continuing to rise each day. 

As of Saturday morning VDOC reported 195 cases of COVID-19 stemming from Buckingham correctional facilities. 

Dillwyn Correctional Center was listed Saturday as having 180 offenders and five staff testing positive. The number was up 27 from the 153 positive offenders and five positive staff reported Friday. 

More than 19% of inmates at the Dillwyn Correctional Center have been diagnosed with the virus. The site remains the location of the largest VDOC-reported outbreak of COVID-19 at any prison in the state. Two inmates have been hospitalized with the virus.

Meanwhile, case rates at Buckingham Correctional Center (BCC) have remained steady with eight positive offenders and two positive staff reported as of Saturday. Two inmates have been hospitalized at the BCC as well. 

Piedmont Health District Director Dr. H. Robert Nash said Friday the number discrepancies between VDH case counts and data reported by the VDOC could be attributed to a 24 to 48-hour lag time in data recording and data entry at VDH. 

Nash said VDH reports are based on numbers entered before 5 p.m. the previous day. However, confirmed test data goes from each testing lab to the VDH Central Epidemiology in Richmond, where it is entered into the central database and then disseminated down to the district level. 

Nash also confirmed that VDH counts inmates that have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the overall number of positive cases of the county the correctional facility or jail is located in.

VDH reported 17,731 total coronavirus cases having been diagnosed across the commonwealth as of May 2 as well as 616 deaths associated with the virus. 

Elsewhere in the area, Prince Edward County cases have risen to 55. Cumberland County has actually dropped its case count from 13 as of Friday to 12 on Saturday. Charlotte County cases have risen to nine. Lunenburg County cases remain at four.

Saturday, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported 1,426 individuals who tested positive for the virus or were awaiting test results were currently being hospitalized. 375 of those patients were in the ICU. The association reported 202 of the state’s 2,932 ventilators were in use. 2,312 Virginians have recovered from COVID-19 and been discharged.