Health officials in the Roanoke area are hopeful that the delta variant-fueled surge of COVID-19 cases is leveling off.
The health district that serves the Roanoke Valley and parts of the Alleghany Highlands reported 1,130 new cases over the past week. That’s about 40 fewer than the week before.
"I’m cautiously optimistic that that means we have reached our peak, but of course it’s a little too early to say that," Dr. Cynthia Morrow said in a weekly news conference. Morrow is the director of the Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District. "And regardless, we still have a lot of disease activity in front of us."
The proof of that is in the still-growing number of hospitalizations, Morrow said. 103 residents of the Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District were hospitalized for complications related to COVID-19 as of Monday. That’s ten more than the previous Monday.
The district added nine additional deaths over the last week, bringing the total to 547.
Statewide Case Numbers Trending Down
Statewide case numbers have been trending down over the past two weeks.
Virginia's 7 day average of daily new cases stood at 3,003 Tuesday. It's been trending down since September 14th when the figure was 3,689.
The number of Virginians hospitalized for complications related to COVID-19 has been hovering between 2,100 and 2,200 since September 8th. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported 2,111 COVID-related hospitalizations on Tuesday.
