While most of the state and nation saw decreasing numbers of COVID-19 cases during the past week, Mathews County saw its numbers spike upward again, after having dropped the previous week.

Mathews recorded 37 new cases of the virus between last Wednesday and this Wednesday, rivaling earlier high counts, for a total of 541 cases in the county since the pandemic began. One new hospitalization was recorded, for a total of 18, and two more Mathews residents died, for a total of nine deaths since the first one in November. It’s just the second time that Mathews has seen multiple deaths in the same week.

Gloucester, on the other hand, continued its downward trend, recording just 51 new cases of the virus, after having well over 100 cases per week for several weeks in a row and dropping to just under 100 cases last week. Gloucester has now had 1,831 cases of the virus diagnosed. One new Gloucester hospitalization occurred during the past week, for a total of 51 hospitalizations since M...