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Updated COVID-19 statistics from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Friday, May 1, show Buckingham County’s coronavirus cases have escalated to 94 positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Although the count is a big jump from the previous day’s report of 55, the number doesn’t match up with the 168 virus cases associated with the county’s prisons as reported by the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) Friday. 

Piedmont Health District Director H. Robert Nash said the number discrepancies 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. 

“The reported cases from VDOC are expected to be 24-48 hours ahead of VDH,” Nash said. 

The VDOC website as of Friday morning listed eight offenders and two staff from the Buckingham Correctional Center as having tested positive for the virus. Dillwyn Correctional Center was reported as having 153 positive offenders and five positive staff. Two offenders in each location have been hospitalized as a result of the virus.

Elsewhere in the health district, Cumberland County is now listed as having 13 cases of coronavirus. Prince Edward positive cases total 51.

VDH reported on Friday a total of 16,901 COVID-19 cases across the commonwealth and 581 deaths. 

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association Friday listed a combined total of 1,431 hospitalized patients with the virus or awaiting test results, with 366 of those patients in the ICU. The association also listed the state as having 193 of its 2953 available ventilators in use. As of Friday, 2,196 confirmed COVID-19 patients in Virginia have gotten better and been discharged.