County public health data reported 728 new coronavirus cases and 17 virus deaths Wednesday.

The county’s rise in cases is continuing, with seven-day daily average of cases at 825 Tuesday, three and a half times what it was Oct. 1, at 236 cases.

Wednesday’s death total was the fourth time in eight days the county had 17 deaths or more in a day. Virus deaths are a lagging indicator — that is, it generally takes those who die from COVID-19 a few weeks for people to sicken and die from the virus. The county’s recent death numbers indicate the county’s surge in cases over the past month-plus are finally beginning to result in more deaths. The seven-day daily average of deaths jumped from five to 13 in six days, from Thursday, Oct. 29 to Wednesday. The last time that figure increased that quickly was mid-September. At the peak of the county’s summer spike, it averaged 60 deaths a day over a seven-day period.

During the county’s summer spike, cases reached reached 3,825 cases in a day on June 29. The county is experiencing another surge, but case numbers in recent days, with a high of 1,064 cases on Saturday, still pale in comparison to the summer’s peak. The county’s seven-day daily average of new cases was 193 on Friday, Sept. 11 and increased to 765 by Sunday, Nov. 1, the most recent day of complete data.

Hospitalizations are increasing as well, rising nearly three-fold, from an average of 12 a day to 35 between Sept. 12 and Oct. 25.