New Berks positive cases: 210, most in a day

Berks County’s coronavirus case count took another leap Saturday, with 210 positives added, the most in one day, for an outbreak total of 930, according to the state health department.

The total positives in Berks nearly tripled in a week that started at 326. The state ends its statistical day at midnight, meaning Saturday’s results were through Friday.

The coroner’s office later Saturday reported one COVID-19 death: a 78-year-old woman who died late Friday at her Berks residence. The office has reported 22 deaths in the county during the outbreak.

The state was reporting 19 deaths for Berks through Friday.

The state has said it would not include four deaths of nonresidents in Berks in the county total. Those deaths would be counted in the municipality where each lived.

That leaves a one-death discrepancy.

Chief Deputy Coroner Jonn M. Hollenbach couldn’t provide much insight on that.

It might be a Berks resident who died outside the county, or “It could even be a death in Berks that wasn’t reported to this office for some reason,” he said.

It was unclear at the county level how many virus tests were administered to achieve the 210 count, although the state has been tracking positives and negatives.

There are nearly five times as many negatives statewide. That rate was as high as 10 to 1 early in the outbreak.

The state was up to 21,655 positives in the Saturday report, adding nearly 1,700 cases. Berks had 210 of them.

The state’s daily number of positives has plateaued but the reason isn’t clear.

The daily death toll increased by 78 for a state outbreak total of 494. It was the third time 78 was reported for one day. That number is the most for any day during the outbreak.

Penn State Health St. Joseph reported 24 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Saturday, the most yet.