CDC: Region still faces high COVID rates

March 08, 2022

While the growth of new COVID-19 cases is slowing down across Virginia as a whole and in many other areas, virus levels remain high in this region, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC is now issuing weekly reports that rank individual counties in the United States as experiencing low, medium or high community COVID levels.

As of March 3, more than 90 percent of the U.S. population was in a location with low or medium levels.

But high levels remain in Norton and the counties of Wise, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Buchanan and Tazewell, along with neighboring Southwest Virginia counties and the Tennessee counties of Hawkins, Sullivan, Hancock, Carter, Cocke and Washington, according to the CDC.

The definition of “high” includes 200 or more new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days; 10 or more new COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 people over seven days; and 10 percent or more of staffed inpatient hospital beds being occupied by COVID patients over the last seven days.

The CDC recommends that people living in a high-rate area continue wearing a mask indoors in public spaces, regardless of vaccination status, including K-12 schools; staying up to date with vaccinations; and getting tested if you have symptoms.