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The counties of Prince Edward, Buckingham, Cumberland, Charlotte and Lunenburg all experienced sizable jumps in their respective coronavirus case counts Tuesday, May 26. 

Prince Edward County was listed on the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) website Tuesday as having jumped to 122 total coronavirus cases as compared to the 108 reported the day prior. 

It appears most of the increases in cases was the result of positive tests stemming from the Farmville and Prospect zip codes. The Farmville zip code of 23901 was listed as having experienced 90 cases of the virus as of Tuesday compared to the 83 positives reported Saturday. 

 Last Thursday, May 21, VDH listed Prospect’s number of positive cases as “suppressed,” meaning between one and four cases had been confirmed at that time. Prospect’s 23960 zip code was listed as having risen to 20 cases of the virus Tuesday, May 26.

Hampden-Sydney was the only zip code in Farmville listed by VDH as having experienced zero coronavirus cases as of Tuesday. 

Piedmont Health District director Dr. H Robert Nash said  that the health district had seen 735 cases as of May 25, with 14 new cases on Monday. 10 of those 14 cases, or 71.4% of the district’s newly-confirmed cases for that day, were from Prince Edward alone.

Tuesday’s complete list of VDH reported Prince Edward coronavirus cases broken down by zip code are as follows:

23901, Farmville, 90 cases

23947, Keysville, suppressed

23958, Pamplin, 13 cases

23954, Meherrin, suppressed

23922, Burkeville, nine cases

23930, Crewe, suppressed

23942, Green Bay, five cases

23943, Hampden-Sydney, zero cases

23960, Prospect, 20 cases

23966, Rice, seven cases

It should be noted that zip codes sometimes cross county and census block lines and not all numbers stemming from a particular zip code are counted in the county’s overall positive case number.

Cumberland County rose to 31 cases Tuesday morning as opposed to the 27 reported Monday. Cumberland’s numbers have been steadily increasing for some time now, with Tuesday’s numbers marking a 13-case jump in the last week alone. 

Buckingham County’s numbers rose slightly to 445 total VDH-reported cases as of Tuesday.  The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) reported Tuesday a total of 321 offenders had tested positive at the Dillwyn Correctional Center (DCC) in Buckingham, with nine active positive staff. Two DCC offenders were actively hospitalized Tuesday due to complications with COVID-19, and one DCC offender has died from the virus. 

Buckingham’s other prison, Buckingham Correctional Center (BKCC) was reported Tuesday as having seen a total of 112 positive offenders and six actively-positive staff. Three BKCC inmates were in hospitals Tuesday battling COVID-19, and two BKCC offenders have died from the virus. 

It is anticipated Buckingham’s numbers will continue to rise as VDH reported cases catch up with data presented by VADOC. While it has been confirmed that positive prisoners are included in the case count for the county the prison is located in, a minimum of a 24- to 48-hour lag time between the organizations is expected.

Both Lunenburg and Charlotte counties saw a jump in positive cases of the coronavirus Tuesday, with Lunenburg County listed at 10 cases as compared to eight the day prior. Charlotte was listed Tuesday as having risen to 23 cases compared to 19 Monday. 

Virginia overall Tuesday was reported as having experienced 39,342 total confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with 1,238 COVID-19 related deaths.