NORFOLK, Va. — There's been an increase in COVID-19 cases as Virginia is going through a summer wave of the virus.
According to Virginia Department of Health officials, this has been happening every summer and there's no reason for alarm because each year the wave is more mild.
Health officials are keeping an eye on COVID-19 emergency room visits which are ticking up slightly, with 1,300 reported in the last week of June. That's .88 percent of all hospital visits statewide.
According to the CDC, nationwide there's been a 23% increase in emergency department visits.
"Even though we're seeing these indicators in our data that show that things are ticking up, we are still seeing low numbers in our emergency rooms and low numbers in hospitalizations and deaths, so people may be getting COVID-19 and being able to recover from it at home," said Elena Diskin, VDH epidemiologist.
Health experts want people to know that there are anti-viral treatments available.
"Our anti-viral treatments like Paxlovid are really great tools to help improve the symptoms of COVID-19 if you are struggling from the symptoms at home," Diskin said
The virus is still mutating and producing new variants. The latest variant is still part of the Omicron family. Symptoms include cough, fever, chills and sore throat.