Cases and vaccinations surge in Berks County
All things COVID, except for deaths, is up in Berks County.
A minor upturn during the workweek turned into a surge Saturday with 316 new COVID cases for Berks registered in the state Department of Health daily report.
It was the biggest single day since Jan. 19 as the winter peak began to subside. There was a data dump of backlogged antigen results that hit the statistics on Jan. 29 with more than 1,400 cases but those tests were performed over weeks then dumped into the system.
The 14-day case average, which smooths uneven testresult reporting, surged to 126 on Saturday, tops since Feb. 13.
The 14-day average was as low as 91 on March 3.
The Berks pandemic total increased to 38,084 cases.
The workweek saw four days in a row over 100 cases for the first time since the first half of February, and then came Saturday.
Each new case is a new person testing positive. Each day’s report is a composite of the previous day’s totals.
The reports issued by the state on Sunday and Monday are typically the lowest of the week because they are based on weekend days during which there are smaller staffs involved in processing. Berks wasn’t alone. Pennsylvania overall saw 4,213 new cases Saturday. It was the first 4,000-case day since Feb. 13, and the highest daily total since Feb. 7.
The pandemic total of cases increased to 984,515, possibly within a week of the 1 million mark.
The health department issued a daily press release without commenting on the increasing case numbers. The department also did not respond to Reading Eagle questions.
Vaccinations
Berks vaccination numbers continued to surge: 1,142 more completed inoculations, whether from the one-shot Johnson & Johnson product or the two-shot Pfizer or Moderna products.
The pandemic total increased to 38,190.
The completed number of residents getting the twoshot vaccine pulls from the partials column, which on Saturday saw the biggest increase of the pandemic.
The partials column made up for that 1,142 and added another 1,186 for a pandemic total of 34,124.
The number of Pennsylvania residents with completed vaccinations was up to 1.47 million, adding about 40,000 in one day. The partials number was also up about 40,000 to 1.31 million.
The pandemic totals include all inoculations, whether through doctors offices, pharmacies, hospitals and the federal and state contracts involving longterm care facilities.
Anyone without internet access to the vaccination process is urged to call the health department at 877724-3258.
The graphics accompanying this story were completed Friday ahead of the Saturday statistics.
Rest of daily stats
There were two new COVID deaths of Berks residents in the state report, and the pandemic total increased Saturday to 919. It was among 33 deaths statewide for a new pandemic total of 24,774.
The county coroner’s office has documented 879 deaths in Berks. The office has discontinued weekend reports.
COVID hospitalizations statewide were down slightly Saturday to 1,529, but there was no downturn in Berks. The Berks component was 59, up two.
The hospitals in Berks have discontinued weekend updates. On Friday, Reading Hospital had 50 COVID patients and Penn State Health St. Joseph had 13, for a total of 63, highest since late February.
Due to the flow of admissions and discharges and the timing of the reports, the totals rarely agree.
Most of the deaths and most of the hospitalized are age 65 and older, the health department said. The coroner’s office has recorded only one death of a person under 65 this month of 17 total.
Weekly report
The weekday COVID case counts came home to roost and added up to an aboutface in the weekly health department reports for Berks County and Pennsylvania.
Berks was a plus 129 in new cases for the week ending Thursday over the week ending March 11, with a positivity rate of 10% and a rate of 138 cases per 100,000 population. The positivity rate was the highest since early February.
Overall, Pennsylvania was a plus-1,380 cases with a positivity rate of 6.5% and a rate per 100,000 of 111.
Berks, Centre and Lehigh counties were the biggest drivers of the overall state increase in cases. Lehigh County, which has been successful with vaccinations, had an increase of 202 cases overall, with a positivity rate of 8.8% and a rate per 100,000 of 183.
Lehigh and Centre counties are well above normal in rate of completed vaccinations, roughly 50% higher than Berks.
Berks and Pennsylvania overall had been recording significant declines most of the year until a plateau was reached two weeks ago.
Berks was fifth in the state in positivity in the recent weekly report and among five counties in double digits.
Monroe County, where positivity has been in double digits for two weeks, was the site of a mass vaccination clinic Saturday at Pocono Raceway.
Lehigh Valley Health Network had a goal of inoculating 3,000 people there. Results were not yet available. The network, which operates in several counties, received 18,000 doses of vaccine this week.
The positivity rate is a calculation of all positives to all tests, accounting for all, including those repeatedly tested for personal or professional reasons.
The weekly statistics are calculated with only the use of nasal swab tests, the PCR, and not antigen and antibody tests. In Berks, nearly 20% of the pandemic’s cases have been generated by the antigen and antibody tests. The rate is a few percentage points lower statewide.
The state typically comments on the weekly report on Monday when it releases the weekly watch lists for community spread and positivity rate.