UVA Health sees a slow rise in COVID cases after the holidays

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - COVID cases are considered to be in the low range across the Charlottesville area, but health experts are concerned as they trend upwards after the holidays.

With higher COVID numbers overall, many locations across the state are recommending masks to minimize the risk that comes with multiple different variants spreading, particularly the highly contagious XBB.1.5 variant.

UVA Health Chief Medical Officer Doctor Reid Adams says that before the holidays, the COVID case count at UVA Hospital was around 20. As of Friday, January 6th, its case count has nearly doubled to 39.

“I don’t expect COVID to go away, and we are fortunate that we don’t have such a large impact on our health system per the CDC metric right now, and that doesn’t mean the virus isn’t out there,” Doctor Patrick Jackson said.

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