The Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District added more than 1,100 new infections over the past week.
That’s according to director Cynthia Morrow.
“We expect that this is an underreporting as more home testing kits have become available, she says. "We expect that there are more people who are positive, but because they are testing positive at home, we may never find out about them.”
Morrow adds that about 15-percent of those cases are among children.
And the unvaccinated continue to make up the majority of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.
New CDC Guidance on Isolation and Quarantine
The Centers for Disease Control has updated its guidance for individuals who either have to isolate or quarantine because of COVID-19.
In both cases, people generally don’t have to wait as long to get back to school or work.
Morrow says there’s one important thing to remember for those coming out of isolation or quarantine.
“If we decrease the isolation and quarantine periods, which we have done, there is a small risk at that tail end that there are people who might transmit the virus," she explains. "And that’s why it’s so important for someone who has COVID and is going back to work or school that they wear their masks.”
She recommends a good-fitting mask and that people ditch single layer cloth masks for higher quality ones.
