The plan to convert the Greater Richmond Convention Center into an emergency hospital for COVID-19 patients has been sidelined for now, according to Dr. Danny Avula, director of the Richmond City and Henrico County Health districts.

At this point, the extra hospital space does not appear to be needed, Dr. Avula said during a news conference last Friday. Existing hospitals have been able to handle the number of people with COVID-19 while continuing to serve other patients with cancer, heart conditions, severe injuries and other conditions requiring overnight stays, he said.

The public is social distancing so well that the numbers needing hospitalization from the virus has not risen exponentially as once feared, Dr. Avula said. Instead, the demand for hospital beds appears to be flattening, he added. Hospitals also gained more leeway by following state orders to cancel elective surgeries, despite taking a major financial hit in doing so.

The numbers also speak of a low volume of cases. On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health reported that in the area’s three major jurisdictions, Richmond and Chesterfield and Henrico counties, there were a total of 1,213 people confirmed with the virus, but only 158 had to be hospitalized, or 13 percent.

Of the confirmed cases, there were 97 deaths, or 7.9 percent of the total. That’s higher than average and is mostly due largely to the 45 deaths reported at Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Henrico.

Henrico also had the most confirmed cases of the virus — 621 — with 90 people hospitalized and 77 deaths.

In Richmond, the state health department reported that 246 people have been confirmed with the virus, 39 needed to be hospitalized and 10 deaths.

Chesterfield County had 346 confirmed cases, with 29 people hospitalized and 10 deaths.