CDC to recognize Manassas as coronavirus hotspot; Protests curtail testing

Manassas is about to recognized by the CDC as a coronavirus hotspot.

A new report to be released by the CDC will note the Prince William Health District, and specifically the zip code of 20110, as a region with the highest number of coronavirus cases in the state, according to city manager Pat Pate, who announced this during tonight’s meeting of the city council.

“We are seeing a decline in the number of cases, but we are still considered a hot spot,” Pate said.

The report is expected to be released within days, Pate said. It’s a probability that the city would not have made the list had it not been lumped into the Prince William Health District, which also includes Prince William County and Manassas Park, said Pate.

However, the city still has one of the highest rates of infection in the region, he said.

There have been 1,154 cases of coronavirus in the city, with 74 hospitalizations and 28 deaths. Prince William County has seen more than 5,800 cases, with more than 500 hospitalized and 109 deaths attributed to the virus.

Last month, Dale City and Woodbridge, in postal codes 22193 and 22191, respectively, had the highest number of reported coronavirus cases in Virignia.

Officials are looking for reasons as to why that is, and how to lower the number of cases.  Recent protests in the region have led to curtailed coronavirus testing in the region, Pate added.

Manassas was the site of a riot on Sunday evening as more than 200 people descended onto the city and smashed windows in businesses on Liberia Avenue. They also chased police officers away from the scene of where a peaceful protest had occurred earlier in the evening, pinning them down into the Battery Heights neighborhood, city police Chief Douglas Keen said.

The night before, about five miles outside the city, police in Prince William County clashed with rioters at the intersection of Sudley Road and Sudley Manor Drive. Four police officers were injured, one seriously, and five people were arrested.

A new testing site will be set up next week at Osbourn High School in the city.

The good news: the number of new coronavirus-related hospitalizations in the state has dropped to just two as of Tuesday, June 2. Nearly 47,000 people in Virginia have contracted the virus, nearly 4,900 have been hospitalized, and 1,428 have died.