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High school students account for majority of COVID cases in ages 10-19, health officials say

Virginia reported more than 3,200 new cases as of Tuesday.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — As the school year winds down into the summer season, something else is picking back up.

On any given Tuesday, you’ll probably find epidemiologist Collette Dougherty researching and investigating COVID outbreaks for the Chesapeake Health Department.

Mirroring state and national trends, COVID cases among school-age children are on the slow rise as well. 

"The slight increase in the school cases is not unexpected," Dougherty said.

Of the three levels of education (elementary, middle and high school), Dougherty said at least in the City of Chesapeake, it’s high school students who account for the largest of those increases.

"We’re seeing increases across the board, not dramatic jumps but slight upticks. We see more cases in our high school students," she said. 

According to Chesapeake Public School’s COVID-19 dashboard as of Tuesday afternoon, the "new daily case count" came in at 43 for the division, and more than 500 over the last 14 days. The same dashboard accounts for five outbreaks within the division, and Dougherty said it's the time of year that's contributing to the increases.

“Particularly with return to end-of-year activities: prom, dances, graduations, things like that," Dougherty said. 

According to VDH data, there have been more than 12,000 COVID cases among Virginians between the ages of 10 to 19 in the last 13 weeks. Across eight Hampton Roads' health districts (including Western Tidewater and the Eastern Shore), the cases by age group come in at 1,588 over the past 13 weeks. 

For more information on COVID-19 in Virginia, click here.

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