Assigning the value of COUNT to a variable

[Soporose Soporose]

I've been getting a COUNT and retrieving records using two separate SELECT queries. I figured this wasn't very efficient and after some research and trial and error, I've come with this format:

strSQL = "SELECT DISTINCT *, COUNT(*) AS numRec FROM tablename GROUP BY incidentnumber ORDER BY datetime DESC"

That works fine and returns exactly what I want. But...

What I don't know is how to assign the count value of numRec to a variable so I can use it in code. I've tried a few things like "RS.numRec" and RS("numRec"), but obviously I'm only guessing (unsuccessfully). I'm using Asp/VBScript.

Also, what does the comma after the asterisk signify?