Among the important data points to look at with regard to COVID-19, and many other viruses for that matter, is “reproduction rate” (Rt). Basically, as the site rt.live explains, Rt is “the average number of people who become infected by an infectious person. If Rt is above 1.0, the virus will spread quickly. When Rt is below 1.0, the virus will stop spreading.” So, obviously, we want to see Rt falling – and remaining – below 1.0 With that in mind, see rt.live and also below for how Virginia’s COVID-19 is doing, both over time and compared to other states.
In short, Virginia has fallen from an Rt of around 2.0 on March 19, to below 1.0 by late April, to about 0.76 by mid-June. Also, Virginia is doing better on this metric than all but four other states – Massachusetts, D.C., Connecticut and New Jersey. So, overall, not bad at all, particularly compared to states that are doing very badly, like Florida, Nevada, South Carolina, Oklahoma, etc. But obviously, as you can see, the “reproduction rate” can fall, but it also can rise again. Which is something we definitely don’t want to see here in Virginia, as Gov. Northam keeps warning us about…
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