Free community testing for COVID-19 continues.

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

• Thursday, Dec. 15 & Dec. 22, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Southside Women, Infants and Children Office, 1519 Williamsburg Rd.; 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. - Fulton Neighborhood Resource Center, 1519 Williamsburg Rd.

• Wednesday, Dec. 21, 8 to 10 a.m. - Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, 1440 N. Laburnum Ave.

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 and flu vaccines at the following locations:

• Tuesday, Dec. 20, 9 to 11 a.m. – Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., JYNNEOS shots, walk-ups welcome.

• Wednesday, Dec. 21, 10 a.m. to noon – RRHA Stonewall Building, 1920 Stonewall Ave.; 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. – RRHA Decatur Elderly Building, 1200 Decatur St., Moderna primary shots for ages 12 and older and boosters for ages 6 and older, Primary and Bivalent Pfizer shots for ages 12 and older, Novavax, Flu shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.

• Thursday, Dec. 22, 9 to 11 a.m. – Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., Primary Moderna shots for ages 6 months to 5 years old and ages 12 and older, bivalent booster for ages 6 and older, Primary Pfizer shots for ages 6 months and older and bivalent boosters for ages 5 and older, Novavax primary shots for ages 12 and older and boosters for ages 18 and older and Flu shots, walk-ups welcome but 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 available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for those age 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for those age 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.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are now offering bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 to 11 in clinics in the near future. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.

New COVID-19 cases in Virginia rose by 8 percent during the last week, according to the Virginia Department of Health, and data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association showed hospitalizations statewide increased by 4 percent since last Wednesday.

Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover are now at medium levels of community COVID-19. Ten localities in Virginia are ranked at high community COVID levels, while 55 were ranked at medium as of last week.

A total of 2,296 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Wednesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,171,414 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Wednesday, there have been 456,817 hospitalizations and 22,568 deaths statewide. The state’s seven-day positivity rate rose to 13.4 percent on Wednesday, after reaching 11.7 percent last week.

On Tuesday, state health officials reported that over 18 million COVID-19 doses had been administered, with 73.5 percent of the state’s population fully vaccinated at the time. State data also showed that over 5 million people in Virginia have received booster shots or third doses of the vaccine.

Among ages 5 to 11 in Virginia, 341,188 have received their first shots as of Tuesday, accounting for 47.1 percent of the age group in the state, while 300,026 children, or 41.4 percent, are fully vaccinated. In this age group, 54,413 children have received a monovalent booster, making up 7.5 percent, while 28,845 have gotten a bivalent booster shot, accounting for 9.9 percent of this group.

As of Tuesday, 60,723 children from the ages of zero to four have received their first doses, making up 13.4 percent of the population in Virginia, while 46,583 are fully vaccinated, or 10.2 percent of the population. On Wednesday, fewer than 1,615,413 cases, 7,580 hospitalizations and 105 deaths were recorded among children in the state.

State data also shows that African-Americans comprised 18.6 percent of cases statewide and 18 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 9.3 percent of cases and 3.6 percent of deaths.