County: 181 new cases

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wise County increased by 181 between July 20 and Wednesday.

The Virginia Department of Health reported Wednesday morning that the county’s total confirmed cases in the months since the pandemic began had risen to 11,511 — up from 11,330 one week earlier.
However, the number of Wise County COVID-19 deaths has been revised down by two, from 205 to 203. The reason for the change was not immediately available.

A new sub-variant of last year’s omicron variant is proving to be highly contagious, according to public health officials. However, fatality and hospitalization rates are not as high.

Statewide, the total number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began rose from 1,372,414 July 20 to 1,386,615 Wednesday, an increase of 14,201. The number of “probable” cases in Virginia rose from 553,501 July 20 to 561,071 yesterday, an increase of 7,570.
During the same period, the number of confirmed deaths increased by 37 to 17,414. The number of probable COVID-19 deaths increased by 13 to 3,475.