COVID-19 cases are increasing across Virginia, and fairly dramatically in the Roanoke Valley according to a health official.
The Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District has recorded more than 250 new lab-confirmed cases in the past week. But Dr. Cynthia Morrow, the district's director, says the true number is much higher because most at-home test results are never reported to the health department.
Data from the Virginia Department of Health shows the statewide average of daily new cases has been rising steadily since mid-July. But the number is still less than half of what Virginia was recording at the peak of the surges last winter and in the summer of 2022.
Morrow says that’s cause for precaution but not for alarm.
"The level of intensity has significantly decreased now that we’re in the third year of this," Morrow said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. "It’s so important for people to keep in mind that we are in such a different place, even this year compared to last year, in terms of how much natural immunity and vaccine immunity there is in the community."
There have been outbreaks in nursing care facilities and some school officials have asked the health department for guidance on prevention efforts, Morrow said Tuesday. Even with the recent increases, she stressed the severity of the current strains is not as high as the original virus.
Still, with kids back in school, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses like the flu will increase at this time of year. "This is going to be part of our ecology moving forward," Morrow said. "COVID is going to be like influenza."
