The number of active COVID-19 cases dropped dramatically in Chautauqua County last week. However, the number of new cases being confirmed locally remains high.

The county Health Department on Wednesday reported 1,743 new cases for the week ending Jan. 15; for the week ending Jan. 8, the county recorded 1,855 new cases.

The number of active cases, though, fell from 1,384 to 339 week over week.

There were four new virus-related deaths reported last week. In addition, there were 31 people with the virus in local hospitals and 668 in quarantine.

To date there have been 22,878 total cases in the county, 22,249 recoveries and 290 deaths.