While conducting winter surveys of caves where bats hibernate, known as hibernacula, biologists and volunteers from VDGIF, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Virginia Speleological Survey discovered bats that showed signs of WNS in Breathing Cave in Bath County. Soon after, similar symptoms were found in bats in Clover Hollow Cave in Giles County. Specimens were collected and sent to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, for analysis. It will take from two to three weeks for results to be available.

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