Roanoke’s public health leaders continue to monitor everything from COVID to West Nile Virus

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Public health leaders in Roanoke have a lot on their hands.

During her virtual update Tuesday morning, Dr. Cynthia Morrow said the COVID activity for the Roanoke City Alleghany Health Districts remained high but stable. Meanwhile, the district is continuing to offer the new bivalent booster shots, though Morrow said the uptake hasn’t been very large.

The district has recorded one new case of Monkeypox, though Dr. Morrow said cases nationwide appear to be waning. The health districts continue to vaccinate high risk people.

There are no new reported cases in Hepatitis A since the last health district update.

Meanwhile, the Roanoke City Alleghany Health Districts reported a second West Nile Virus case in the last month. The last recorded case was from 2018. Dr. Morrow said the district has typically only seen one to two cases a year.

Both recent cases stem from the Southeast portion of Roanoke City.

Dr. Morrow says they are looking into potential sources.

“You know I have asked to see if it’s possible to do some more mosquito surveillance in the area,” she said. “And that would be with the support of central office. So I don’t know whether we’ll be able to do that, we know that there is something we can all do and that is to protect ourselves.”

Dr. Morrow says avoid being outside during the times of the day mosquitoes are most active.

Wear repellant and long sleeves to help keep them off your skin.

Copyright 2022 WDBJ. All rights reserved.