Nine new virus-related deaths were recorded in the last week in Chautauqua County. In addition, the number of people who have tested positive for the virus and are in the hospital continues to rise.

There are currently 52 hospitalizations, according to information released Wednesday by the county Health Department reflecting Nov. 21 to Nov. 27. There were 50 people with the virus in local hospitals the previous week.

Christine Schuyler, the county’s public health director, believes the hospitalization rate will continue to increase due to the Thanksgiving holiday and the fact that more people are gathering indoors due to the weather.

To date there have been 15,597 cases of the virus in the county — with 707 being recorded in the past week. There have also been 228 virus-related deaths and 14,721 recoveries.

There are currently 648 active cases of the virus, 995 people in quarantine and a seven-day positivity rate of 11.2%.