COVID stats revised down

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wise County since the pandemic began has been revised downward by the Virginia Department of Health.

The reason for the reduced case count was not immediately available this week. At press time yesterday, Wise County Health Department officials were looking into the matter at the newspaper’s request.

As of Oct. 5, the state health department reported that the county’s total confirmed cases in the months since the pandemic began had risen to 13,041. But as of yesterday, the numbers had been revised down by 368 to a total of 12,673.

The number of Wise County COVID-19 deaths also was revised down by five, from 213 as of Oct. 5 to 208 yesterday.

Statewide, the total number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began rose from 1,482,278 Oct. 5 to 1,486,712 Wednesday, an increase of 4,434. The number of “probable” cases in Virginia rose from 611,115 Oct. 5 to 613,763 yesterday, an increase of 2,648.

During the same period, the number of confirmed deaths increased by 72 to 18,280. The number of probable COVID-19 deaths increased by 10 to 3,721.