Emergency rooms in Virginia reported an increase in the number of coronavirus diagnoses heading into the Christmas weekend, although the current new coronavirus variant is not as potent as recent ones.
For the week ending December 23, 2023, 3.5% of diagnoses made in Virginia emergency rooms were related to the novel coronavirus. This is a 28% increase compared to the previous week, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
This increase can be attributed to the number of gatherings that typically take place in the weeks leading up to and over Christmas.