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COVID-related metrics in the Roanoke area are high, but remain largely steady

The district says there were about 700 confirmed lab tests over the last week.

But, Director Cynthia Morrow says that figure remains an under count due to the prevalence of home testing.

Statewide, there were just over 800 COVID-related hospitalizations as of Tuesday. That figure is high, but remains well below the peak of nearly 3,800 seen during the peak of the original omicron surge last winter.

There were 46 hospitalizations reported by RCAHD on Monday.

Morrow stresses that vaccination remains the best tool we have against the virus — despite the current strain's ability to better dodge immunity from the shots or prior infection. She also says people should get whatever boosters they're eligible for.

“We are not recommending that people wait until the new booster comes out that will have additional coverage because we don’t know the timeline for that," she explains. "So, nobody is recommending at this time for people to wait – they should be up to date according to where they are.”

Morrow is hopeful virus activity in the area will start to come down in the coming weeks. But, she adds COVID continues to be very unpredictable.

Nick Gilmore is a meteorologist, news producer and reporter/anchor for RADIO IQ.