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Buckingham, Cumberland, Prince Edward, Lunenburg and Charlotte counties all saw a rise in coronavirus cases over the past week, with Buckingham County seeing the largest jump in cases. 

On Tuesday, June 2, Buckingham County was listed by the Virginia Department of Health as having experienced a total of 465 cases of the novel coronavirus. That number had risen to 484 by June 9. 

At a Buckingham Board of Supervisors meeting held Monday night, June 8, County Emergency Management Coordinator Cody Davis answered questions from the board regarding if the county was indeed seeing an uptick in positive cases. 

Davis responded that he felt many official sources regarding coronavirus case counts were behind in terms of data, but that through unofficial sources, he felt the county was seeing a jump in cases. 

“Some of those upticks are alarming because they are gathering places for a number of people in the community.” 

Davis said the upticks were a large reason why Buckingham delayed its projected reopening date for county governmental facilities from June 9 to June 15. That date is still subject to change as the situation progresses.

He added that it seems as though Buckingham may be behind the rest of the state in its coronavirus timeline, and that while other localities appeared to have peaked and then seen a downturn in cases, Buckingham may have not yet reached its crest. He was hopeful the county would begin to see a similar downturn in the near future.

“We’re behind in the progression of COVID-19, which ultimately makes it look like we’re behind in the recovery of COVID-19.” 

According to the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), Buckingham Correctional Center (BKCC) was listed Tuesday as having experienced a total of 153 offenders who had tested positive for the virus, with 44 active cases in the offender population. BKCC had nine staff members on Monday with active cases. Three inmates from the facility have died of COVID-19. 

The nearby Dillwyn Correctional Center (DCC) was listed Monday as having had a total of 348 positive offenders since testing began, with 93 active cases in its inmate population and one actively positive staff member. Two DCC inmates have died as a result of COVID-19. 

The discrepancies in data across various sources become apparent when comparing VADOC and VDH numbers. Despite the two latest deaths stemming from Buckingham prisons having happened over a week ago, Buckingham’s VDH reported deaths were still listed at three Tuesday morning. There have been five known deaths as a result of COVID-19 in the entire county. All of the victims were from the county’s prisons.

The Immigration Centers of America (ICE) Detention Center in Farmville had risen to three total cases of the coronavirus in its inmate population as of Tuesday.

Cumberland County coronavirus cases increased from 38 cases June 2 to 45 as of June 9. Prince Edward County increased from 143 cases to 151. Lunenburg rose from 15 to 18 cases, and Charlotte jumped from 25 to 29 cases the same week. 

As of Tuesday, Virginia had seen 51,738 total VDH reported coronavirus cases and 1,496 COVID-19 related deaths. 

According to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, 1,169 patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus or were awaiting test results were actively being hospitalized Tuesday, with 311 of those patients in the ICU. The state had 155 of its 2,989 ventilators in use. 6,677 COVID-19 patients in Virginia have recovered and been discharged.