As the U.S. faces record-breaking spikes in coronavirus infections, D.C. reported its highest number of daily new cases in months on Saturday.
The District recorded 122 cases — the highest count since that metric hit 130 on June 3.
The Washington Post’s regional coronavirus tracker reports a 43% increase in new cases for D.C. over the past week, as the city also sees its seven-day average of daily infection ticking upward. Through October, that figure rose from 32 to 76. The District’s seven-day average positivity rate (which measures the number of infections out of all administered tests), though, still remains low at 2% for the past week.
The jump in cases comes as the country sees a nearly nationwide spike in coronavirus infections. The United States reported 99,115 new cases on Saturday, according to The New York Times coronavirus tracker — the highest daily total since the pandemic began. Cases are higher and staying that way in 38 out of 50 states, per the Times. But Maryland and Virginia are among the 12 states not experiencing large and sustained spikes, as well as D.C.
New cases in Maryland and D.C. are lower but going up, while cases in Virginia are low and staying that way.

While D.C.’s seven-day average of new cases has steadily increased over the past month, deaths have remained low. Since Oct. 1, the city has recorded 17 new deaths, and the death rate remained steady over the past week.
The number of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 has increased in D.C. over the past week, however. Since Oct. 26, the city has recorded more than 100 patients hospitalized with the virus every day. For the prior three weeks, daily hospitalization numbers fluctuated between 84 and 98.
Regionally, Maryland marked a grim milestone on Saturday, with a total of 4,000 deaths in the state from COVID-19. It recorded 967 new cases on Saturday, and over the past week has seen a slight uptick in its seven-day average positivity rate. Over the past month, that metric increased from 2.93% on Oct. 1 to 3.44% on Saturday. Like D.C., deaths have remained relatively low over the past week. But hospitalizations continue to trend upward, as they have and have been for the past month.
In hardest-hit Prince George’s County, the state’s second-most populous jurisdiction, the positivity rate slightly increased over the past week, but still remains below five percent (after it jumped slightly above that number in mid-October). It remains the county with the most coronavirus infections in the state, totaling 33,111, and local officials recently cautioned against having gatherings for upcoming holidays as metrics trend in concerning directions across the region.
In Montgomery County, which has the second-highest total cases in the state, the positivity rate increased from 2.54% on Oct. 24 to 3.34% on Saturday. The county, which is Maryland’s most populous jurisdiction, has reported more than 100 new daily cases for the past 11 straight days. Both Prince George’s and Montgomery counties have stayed in Phase Two of reopening, despite Gov. Larry Hogan authorizing a state-wide move into Phase Three in September.
Virginia reported 1,551 new cases on Saturday, the highest since the commonwealth saw 1,844 on Oct. 8. The seven-day average of new cases also trended upward this past week after hitting a plateau earlier this month. Like Maryland, hospitalizations have also steadily increased in October.
In Northern Virginia, specifically, daily new cases have topped more than 300 for five consecutive days. On Saturday, the region reported a seven-day average of daily new cases of 298.4, the highest since June.
Colleen Grablick