The Virginia Department of Health, through its Coastal Beach Monitoring Program, starts its weekly sampling of beaches in mid-May.

Gloucester Point Beach, Festival Beach in Mathews and Yorktown Beach are among the sites.

The monitors takes water samples and when these samples reveal an unsafe level of bacteria, the health department issues beach advisories to let the public know when there is a higher risk of waterborne illness, a release said.Sampling will continue through September.
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