Another death, 174 new cases across a week

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wise County increased by 174 between Aug. 24 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 12,680 — up from 12,506 one week earlier.
The number of Wise County COVID-19 deaths increased by one, from 204 to 205.

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 1,437,069 Aug. 24 to 1,448,035 Wednesday, an increase of 10,966. The number of “probable” cases in Virginia rose from 585,709 Aug. 24 to 592,071 yesterday, an increase of 6,362.
During the same period, the number of confirmed deaths increased by 80 to 17,826. The number of probable COVID-19 deaths increased by 26 to 3,590.