Fewer than 3,000 hospitalized; 3,930 additional cases reported
Numbers released by the state Department of Health on Saturday indicate a continuing refluence of the wave of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
All of the hospital indicators — intensive care patients, hospitalizations and ventilator use — are at their lowest levels since mid-November. There were 2,934 people hospitalized as of mid day Saturday compared with 3,041 Friday. Of those, 338 were on ventilators, and 609 were in intensive care beds. The bad news is that hospitalizations are still five times higher than they were at the beginning of September, while the number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators is more than four times as high. The number of ICU beds taken by COVID-19 patients is almost three times as high as it was on Oct. 23, when the Health Department first started reporting that metric.
The department reported 3,930 additional coronavirus cases on Saturday. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 3,766, down by a third from 5,612 a week ago, and continuing a two-week slide in the average.
To date, there have been 865,604 infections statewide since the start of the pandemic.
Deaths
The state reported 157 deaths Saturday compared with 138 on Friday. The seven-day moving average of daily deaths was 113 Saturday, compared with 154 the week before. Senior care facilities reported a total of 11,706 deaths, accounting for 52% of all the state’s 22,39 6coronavirus-related deaths.
Lehigh Valley
Cases: 320 additional case reports, with 154 in Lehigh County, 166 in Northampton County. That brings the total to 52,904.
Deaths: 13 new deaths (seven in Lehigh County, and six in Northampton County ), compared with 12 the day before. That brings the total to 1,296.
Vaccinations
Combined data from the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania health departments show that 1,385,063 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to more than a million people across the state, meaning that more than 10% of the 16-and-over population are at least partially immunized.
Over 14% of the Lehigh Valley’s age-approved residents — 78,979 people — have gotten at least one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna inoculations. About 102,000 shots have gone into the arms of Valley residents.