CHESAPEAKE, Va. — In mid-December, COVID-19 cases were surging at an alarming rate in Hampton Roads, the state and the rest of the country.

As of Dec. 12, Virginia was reporting 2,167,396 cases of COVID-19 across the Commonwealth since March 2020.

In just the past seven days, Virginia has averaged 1,577 newly reported cases each day.

It's a statistic Jerry Tucker with the Chesapeake Health Department said is unfortunate, but not unexpected.

"We've been kind of expecting this, and we may see the numbers get a little worse as time goes on," Tucker said.