The Roanoke region saw a huge increase in COVID-19 cases over the past week. And health officials fear the trend will continue after the Christmas holidays.
The Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District reported about 1,700 new COVID-19 cases over the past week. That’s about 15% of the entire number of cases since the pandemic began, according to Doctor Cynthia Morrow. "This is very likely due to the Thanksgiving surge that we were expecting," Morrow told a weekly conference call with reporters.
The number of active cases in the district was 1,925 as of Tuesday morning, about 150 more than last week. Hospitalizations in the district are also reached a record at 81 patients Tuesday morning. That number was 67 last week and had been hovering around 70 for several weeks before.
Morrow says a sustained surge going into the December holidays would be dangerous. "It is just so important that as tired as everyone is, as exhausting as this pandemic has been, we don’t want to go into the new year in the current position that we are in." Morrow says the safest way to celebrate the holidays is at home. You can also open doors and windows to increase outside ventilation at gatherings or move them outdoors altogether.
Click here for CDC guidance on holiday celebrations
COVID-19 Vaccine Reaches Western Virginia
There’s reason to celebrate the first deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine. But health officials caution we’ll need to continue prevention measures for months. "The vaccine is here, it is being given and that is such an extraordinary Christmas gift that we can start vaccinating. But it’s going to take time," Dr. Cynthia Morrow cautioned. Morrow is director of the Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District.
Centra Health, which operates hospitals in the Lynchburg area, received its first doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Doctor Christopher Lewis says more and more people will be able to get vaccinated in the coming weeks and months and it will be vital to get both shots: “And so after that second dose, your body is very attuned to if you then get infected or if a COVID virus gets into your system, it will see the spike protein on that virus and will right away attack it.”
Lewis says the shipment Centra has on hand is the first dose reserved for frontline healthcare workers. They expect second-dose shipments to arrive in about three weeks.
In the Roanoke area and New River Valley, LewisGale and Carilion Clinic expect to begin vaccinating health care workers on Wednesday. Carilion said it received 4,000 doses Tuesday afternoon.
