County: 310 new COVID cases over seven days

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wise County increased by 310 between Aug. 17 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 12,506 — up from 12,196 one week earlier.
The number of Wise County COVID-19 deaths remained at 204.

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 1,425,543 Aug. 17 to 1,437,069 Wednesday, an increase of 11,526. The number of “probable” cases in Virginia rose from 579,793 Aug. 17 to 585,709 yesterday, an increase of 5,916.
During the same period, the number of confirmed deaths increased by 87 to 17,746. The number of probable COVID-19 deaths increased by 20 to 3,564.