ROANOKE, Va. The city of Roanoke and the health department will hold a COVID-19 information session, aimed at getting information to the Hispanic and African-American communities. Dr. Molly O'Dell from the Virginia Health Department will talk about the virus, with the goal of understanding the needs of the LatinX and African American communities, caused by the pandemic. Water services could be interrupted in parts of Lynchburg today. From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., people living on parts of Pawnee Street and Navajo Street could see interruptions as the city replaces water valves. The New River Valley Health Department will be there to answer questions about COVID-19 and its impact on reopening schools.

ROANOKE, Va. – Dozens of contact tracers may be needed in Southwest Virginia to help combat the coronavirus. Governor Northam announced the Virginia Department of Health plans to hire 1,000 contact tracers to work throughout the state. Contact tracers help track down who an infected person may have come in contact with. “For folks that work in state government, we can request agencies to transfer workers to help us with contact tracing if we want that,” O’Dell said. She added that a work group has also been created to look at alternatives to contact tracing.