The Virginia Board of Health has developed amendments to the regulations for disease reporting and control by adding COVID-19 reporting requirements for physicians and directors of medical care facilities. The changes are set to take effect on January 20, 2021.

The amendments require:
• reports of suspected and confirmed cases and hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions;
• require case report forms be submitted electronically;
• clarify that the category “laboratory directors” includes pharmacies that hold Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments Certificates of Waiver;
• require laboratory directors to report positive and negative COVID-19 tests;
• add ethnicity to the fields required to be reported by all parties related to COVID-19; and
• add “coronavirus, severe” to the list of infectious disease that shall be reported to persons practicing funeral services.

Additional information about the changes is available on pages 4-6 of this agency background document.