Two students at Union High School tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. The two students were briefly at the school on Monday. A family member of the students had tested positive, which prompted the testing of the students. Wise County Schools were notified of the positive results on Monday. The workspaces used by the two students have been deep-cleaned. 

Ballad Health reports 213 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in their facilities. Ballad reports that 41 of those patients are in intensive care and another 27 of the COVID-19 patients are on a ventilator. There are also 12 patients under investigation. There are now 43 designated COVID-19 beds available in Ballad facilities. Over the past 7 days, a 15.9% positivity rate has been reported by Ballad, along with 63 total COVID-19 deaths during the same time period across all of the system's facilities. Ballad also reports that since March 1, there have been 27,576 positive COVID-19 cases and 505 total COVID-19 deaths in their service area. 

Stone Mountain Health Services will be offering COVID-19 testing in local counties on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tests will be administered at the Western Lee County Health Clinic in Ewing on Tuesday from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Then, on Wednesday testing will be performed at the Haysi Clinic from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. as well. Testing will be performed by appointment only on a first-come, first-served basis. If someone wants to make an appointment, the number to call is 276-299-1659. 

The Virginia Department of Health reports 177,240 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the commonwealth. The VDH also reports 3,447 confirmed deaths and 12,936 confirmed hospitalizations due to COVID-19 across the state. There are 6,297 cases in Southwest Virginia:

Washington County has 1,285 cases with 101 hospitalizations and 28 deaths
Wise County has 879 cases with 49 hospitalizations and 11 deaths
Smyth County has 754 cases with 59 hospitalizations and 27 deaths
Lee County has 674 cases with 38 hospitalizations and 11 deaths
Tazewell County has 651 cases with 34 hospitalizations and 2 deaths
Russell County has 632 cases with 48 hospitalizations and 8 deaths
Scott County has 523 cases with 35 hospitalizations and 9 deaths
City of Bristol has 368 cases with 21 hospitalizations and 7 deaths
Buchanan County has 292 cases with 17 hospitalizations and 4 deaths
Dickenson County has 177 cases with 10 hospitalizations and 1 death
City of Norton has 62 cases with 5 hospitalizations

Two people have been hospitalized following a Sunday night crash in Chuckey, Tennessee. The Greene County Sheriff's Office reports that the crash occurred in the 300 block of Barren Road at around 7:50 p.m. A 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer, driven by 93-year-old Alva Price, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, was heading east when she crashed into a utility pole off the right side of the road. Price was extricated and flown by EMS air to an area hospital. There was a passenger in the vehicle, 84-year-old Raymond Gaskin, of Chuckey, who had to be removed from the vehicle and transported to the hospital. Price and Gaskin were wearing their seatbelts. 

'Very suspicious fires' are under investigation in Appalachia. The Appalachia Fire Department posted on their Facebook page last Tuesday that several structure fires had occurred the week prior, two of which were suspicious in nature. The AFD requested the Wise County Sheriff's Office's assistance in investigating the fires. According to the WCSO, the two suspicious fires happened on November 1. Both fires were either in town or on its perimeter but did not extend further into the county. One fire happened at 123 Brown Street and the other off of Mouser Street. Both homes were either abandoned or unoccupied and were reported as total losses. Investigators say that due to how little was left of the homes that the scenes were difficult to examine. Surveillance footage did capture a person nearing the house off of Mouser Street before the fire started. The person has still not been identified. If anyone has any information on the fires, they are asked to call the WCSO or the AFD. 

A 2.7 magnitude earthquake was reported near Richlands early this morning. The United States Geological Survey reports that the earthquake was recorded at 2:35 a.m. on Monday, 6.21 miles northwest of Richlands. The USGS places the earthquake just over the Tazewell/Buchanan County line in Buchanan County. The recorded depth of the earthquake was 11.37 miles, according to the USGS. 

A fatal Friday night shooting in Letcher County, Kentucky is under investigation. Kentucky State Police report that the shooting took place at a home on KY-588 in the Blackey community. Troopers arrived at just after 9 p.m. and found 26-year-old Zachary Back dead. The initial investigation indicates that a verbal altercation took place between Black and 37-year-old Chad Bolling. The verbal dispute, at some point, became physical, which led to the shooting. Bolling was arrested nearby and was charged with murder and first-degree wanton endangerment. He is being held in the Letcher County Jail.

A person has been hospitalized after a vehicle struck a lawnmower in Carter County, Tennessee. Tennessee Highway Patrol reports that a Chevrolet Silverado, driven by 56-year-old Bernice R. Spears, of Elizabethton, was traveling northbound on State Route 91 when it crossed into the southbound lane and left the roadway. Spears then continued north, side-swiping a utility pole and then striking a man on a lawnmower, identified to be 43-year-old Che Creedon. The impact of the crash threw Creedon a long distance off the lawnmower, before landing in the roadway. Creedon was sent to the Johnson City Medical Center for injuries. There was a passenger with Spears, 50-year-old Roger Spears, of Elizabethton. Charges are pending against Spears, but no further details have been released at this time. 

A Wise psychiatrist has pleaded guilty to federal healthcare fraud. The Western District U.S. Attorney's Office reports that 52-year-old Uzma Ehtesham pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Abingdon on Thursday. According to court documents, Ehtesham billed Virginia Medicare and Medicaid $500,000 in total fraudulent payments for individual payment office visits between 2010 and 2016. She claimed that it was "extensive, time consuming and costly office visits," while she was actually seeing patients in groups of two to four for only five to six minutes at a time. Ehtesham is required to pay $1 million total in restitution, fines, and forfeiture and her sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 28, 2021.