COVID-19 cases still climbing across Pa.

Pennsylvania on Friday reported an accelerating increase in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations as UPMC announced a treatment that has had significant success in reducing the risk of hospital stays and death in patients with the disease.

The rise in cases was also felt on the University of Pittsburgh campus, where more than 40 new cases were reported since Tuesday and officials urged students to take precautions.

Between March 19 and Thursday, the state added 17,811 cases of COVID-19 — an increase of almost 3,200 compared with the prior week, which had already seen rising infections.

More people by percentage are also testing positive for the virus, according to the Department of Health. The state’s positivity rate rose to 7.6% this week from 6.5% — a sign that a greater share of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients are going up, too, with a daily average of 1,633 people hospitalized for the disease last week. That’s a significant bump from 1,479 the week before.

At a news conference, UPMC announced new research into a COVID-19 treatment with monoclonal antibodies. In a preprint publication that’s not yet peer reviewed, preliminary findings suggested the treatment cut the

risk of hospitalization and death by almost 70% among elderly patients and people with underlying health conditions.

The process was given emergency use authorization last year by the Food and Drug Administration and was notably used by then-President Donald Trump during his bout of COVID-19 in October.

One local patient who received it, Sharae Hopkins, said it helped her get over symptoms that were so severe she felt like she was “near death.”

“I’ve never been sick or in pain like that ever,” said Ms. Hopkins, 31, of the South Side. Two days after getting the treatment, most of her symptoms — coughing, pain, changes in smell and taste — went away.

A week later, she felt almost 100% better, besides some muscle weakness after strenuous exercise.

Doctors first thought demand for the treatment would be so high that there would be a shortage, said Dr. Donald Yealy, UPMC’s senior medical director and the chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh.

“We were surprised when so few other health care systems either offered it or offered it with any enthusiasm,” Dr. Yealy said. He cited infrastructure barriers as a reason for lower awareness among patients and providers.

The monoclonal antibody treatment is provided through a federal program and should come with no cost, said Dr. Graham Snyder, UPMC’s medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology.

An update from Pitt on Friday afternoon urged students to wear masks, avoid large crowds and take other measures to curb the spread of the virus, even if vaccinated, as the school is weeks away from planned in-person end-of-term events and commencement.

Since Tuesday, 42 Pitt students have tested positive, and 71 are in isolation. The five-day moving average of new cases stands at 8.6. Eight new faculty and staff infections also have been reported.

“Regional campus numbers remain low, but we need to do all we can to get Pittsburgh campus numbers under control,” said a statement from Pitt’s COVID-19 medical response office.

“With the U.K. variant, B.1.1.7, present on the Pittsburgh campus, we are highly concerned about increased transmission rates and a surge in cases. Fortytwo new students testing positive for COVID-19 in three days is worrisome.”

Case numbers in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties also continue to rise, the statement noted. The increased number of faculty and staff testing positive for COVID-19 likely mirrors the continued rise in Allegheny County numbers, it added.

Meanwhile, Pitt said it will be instituting a universitywide shelter-in-place period on April 16.

“This means that students will be permitted to attend in-person classes [as the current Risk Posture allows] and leave the house for essentials, but that all other activity and all large gatherings should be restricted,’’ the statement said. “This is to keep students and their families as safe as possible around inperson commencement ceremonies and depopulation at the end of term.”

It said the community would be updated about end-of-term testing protocol and shelter-in-place information, adding, “We will be providing guidance for seniors participating in the in-person ceremonies.”

About 29,000 of Pitt’s 34,000 students attend the main campus in Oakland.

As the Pitt guidance mentioned, Allegheny County saw and increase of 513 new cases with more than 1,700 total infections confirmed between March 19 and Thursday.

The trend continued Friday as the county Health Department added 586 more cases of COVID-19 — its largest one-day increase since January, though the county reported that 19 of the tests were more than a week old.

Allegheny County also confirmed nine more deaths from COVID-19. The newly added fatalities were reported via data from the statewide Electronic Death Reporting System, the county said, with the dates of deaths between March 4 and 21.

Among those who have recently died of the disease, one person was in their 40s, four were in their 60s, one was in their 70s, two were in their 80s and the oldest was in their 90s. One of them was in a long-term care facility.

In total, the county has reported 83,811 cases of COVID-19 and 1,759 deaths since March 2020.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday reported 4,927 new cases of the virus statewide and added 36 deaths.

The commonwealth crossed 1 million cases Thursday and reports a total of 1,005,167 cases to date, resulting in the deaths of 24,953 people.

The state has also administered more than 4.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to more than 3.1 million people, according to the Department of Health. Some vaccines require two doses.

In Allegheny County, 392,597 people have

received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Officials for UPMC, the region’s largest health care network, said they were administering around 25,000 to 35,5000 doses of the

COVID-19 vaccine each week.

UPMC has given more than 297,000 doses of the vaccine, with some 166,000 of them going to non-employees.

Dr. Snyder said the health care giant was focusing on both mass vaccinations and communitybased solutions to stopping the spread of COVID-19

“The real secret sauce are those smaller efforts that are out there getting people who are the most vulnerable that can’t get in,” said Dr. Yealy.