What happened Shares of space company Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) rose for a second straight day Tuesday, closing the trading day up 2.7%. So what In contrast to yesterday, there's no obvious news to explain investors' optimism about the space-tourism company today -- so let's look at some less obvious data. Down in New Mexico, where Virgin Galactic has its base of operations at Spaceport America, there's a red-yellow-green quarantine order in effect to limit the spread of coronavirus. In counties designated "red," there are strict limitations on non-essential workers going to work. New Mexico health officials, however, have promised to review the data on a county-by-county basis every two weeks -- and on that basis, things are looking good for Virgin Galactic. Overall, the state has seen new coronavirus cases dwindle over the past five days, falling to just 826 new cases reported yesterday. And in Sierra County, in particular, where Spaceport America is located, the Department of Health says that it's seeing improvement in "average daily per-capita case rates" and the county could be "rapidly approaching Yellow Level thresholds." Image source: Getty Images. Now what Coronavirus is a tricky beast, and there's no guarantee that this trend -- which looks good right now -- won't reverse in the days ahead. Still, for now, the trend is down, and the longer it keeps heading in that direction, the greater the chances are that restrictions will be lifted in Sierra County sooner rather than later. That would be good news for Virgin Galactic's spaceflight test program, and longer term, for the company's prospects to attract customers to visit Spaceport America to begin taking tourist flights to space. It's an incremental positive for the stock and, in the absence of any other good news, is probably the reason Virgin Galactic stock ended the day on a high note. 10 stocks we like better than Virgin Galactic Holdings IncWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source