Free community testing for COVID-19 continues.

The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:

• Thursday, Sept. 29, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Southside Women, Infants and Children Office, 509 E. Southside Plaza; 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. - Fulton Neighborhood Resource Center, 1519 Williamsburg Road.

Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com.

The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID- 19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites.

Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?

The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free walk-up COVID-19 vaccines at the following locations:

• Thursday, Sept. 29 & Oct. 6, 1 to 4 p.m. - Richmond Henrico Health District, 400 E. Cary St., Pfizer for ages 6 months and older, Moderna for ages 6 months to 5 years old and ages 18 years and older, appointments encouraged.

• Wednesday, Oct. 5 & Oct. 12, 1 to 4 p.m. - Henrico Health District West Headquarters, 8600 Dixon Powers Drive, Pfizer for ages 6 months and older, Moderna for ages 6 months to 5 years old and ages 18 years and older, appointments encouraged.

People can schedule an appointment online at vase.vdh.virginia.gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or by calling (804) 205-3501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877- 829-4682).

VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.

Those who are getting a booster shot should bring their vaccine card to confirm the date and type of vaccine received.

RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations by calling (804) 205-3501 to schedule appointments.

New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now being shipped across the United States following approval on the federal level weeks earlier. The new Pfizer booster is approved for those aged 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for those aged 18 and older.

As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID-19 vaccine.

New COVID-19 cases in Virginia dropped by 13 percent during the last week, according to the Virginia Department of Health, and data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association showed hospitalizations statewide fell by 8 percent.

Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover are still at medium levels of community COVID- 19. Universal masking is now strongly encouraged for 11 localities in Virginia.

On Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration to approve their updated COVID-19 dose, which provides protection for the original and omicron variants, for children between the ages of 5 and 11.

A total of 1,452 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Wednesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,086,021 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Wednesday, there have been 455,097 hospitalizations and 21,831 deaths statewide. The state’s seven-day positivity rate dropped to 11.9 percent on Wednesday. Last week, the positivity rate was 14 percent.

On Wednesday, state health officials reported that 72.6 percent of the state’s population has been fully vaccinated, while 82.7 percent have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

State data also showed that over 3.9 million people in Virginia have received booster shots or third doses of the vaccine.

Among ages 5 to 11 in Virginia, 337,087 have received their first shots as of Wednesday, accounting for 46.5 percent of the age group in the state, while 294,306 children, or 40.6 percent, are fully vaccinated and 51,986 children have received a third vaccine dose or booster, making up 7.2 percent of that age group.

As of Wednesday, 48,076 children from the ages of zero to four have received their first doses, making up 10.6 percent of the population in Virginia, while 33,056 are fully vaccinated, or 7.3 percent of the population. As of Wednesday, fewer than 172,980 cases, 1,032 hospitalizations and 15 deaths have been recorded among children in the state.

State data also shows that African-Americans comprised 22.1 percent of cases statewide and 22.9 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 11.2 percent of cases and 4.9 percent of deaths.

As of Wednesday, Richmond reported a total of 56,902 cases, 1,203 hospitalizations and 538 deaths; Henrico County, 81,626 cases, 1,614 hospitalizations and 1,013 deaths; Chesterfield County, 90,957 cases, 1,654 hospitalizations and 817 deaths; and Hanover County, 26,171 cases, 801 hospitalizations and 320 deaths.

Compiled by George Copeland Jr.