Isle of Wight County had eight new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, six of which are tied to Smithfield’s ZIP code, according to Virginia Department of Health data.

The county’s total caseload as of Saturday stood at 177, up from 169 last Friday. Of those, the number of cases with Smithfield addresses rose from 53 Friday to 59. That’s out of just over 17,000 residents living in the 23430 ZIP code, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

According to Dr. Todd Wagner, director of the VDH’s Western Tidewater Health District, of the 121 people tested during the VDH’s free, drive-through testing event at the Luter Sports Complex in Smithfield last Monday, only three tested positive.

“This 2.5% rate is very comparable to what we have seen in other community testings,” Wagner said.

The VDH tested another 105 people last Wednesday during another free testing event in the parking lot of Windsor High School but is still waiting for the results of those tests.

When asked about Smithfield’s cases, Wagner said he would attribute 59 confirmed positives out of 17,000 residents “very much to regular community spread, and not suggestive of an outbreak.”

Statewide, COVID-19 diagnoses over the past two weeks have averaged between  490-680 new cases per day. On a national scale, however, the United States is experiencing a surge in new cases. The New York Times reported this weekend that infections nationwide have risen 65% over the past two weeks, particularly in Florida and other states that were among the first to lift their COVID-19 restrictions.