Pa. deaths top 100 for first time since May

State urges cooperation with contact tracers, especially from 18- to 35-year-olds

In a long string of disconcerting daily reports, Pennsylvania has been following the national arc of the fall’s coronavirus surge — a rapid increase in cases leading to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths.

The Health Department reported a record 6,339 additional infections Wednesday — more than three times that of the initial peak in early April — and 110 deaths, including one in Northampton County.

Of 2,904 hospitalized patients at midday Wednesday, 628 are in the intensive care unit and 310 on ventilators. The trend in the 14-day moving average of the number of hospitalized patients per day has increased by nearly 1,600 since the end of September.

It is the 10th time this month that daily cases have broken the state record, and the first time since the last week in May that more than 100 daily deaths were reported.

The state has recorded 281,852 infections since March, with 9,465 deaths.

Lehigh and Northampton counties reported 139 and 130 cases respectively. In the two counties combined, 698 patients have died.

Of the tests reported Wednesday, 21.7% were positive. The rate over seven days is 22.4%.

In a news release, Allentown said positive test results are coming into the city’s Health Bureau faster than staff can keep up with contact tracing to warn people of exposure. More than 200 people have tested positive this week, the release said.

Health Director Vicky Kistler asked city residents who test positive to remain at home for the mandatory 10-day isolation period and separate as much as possible from family members.

They are also asked to help the Health Bureau by informing everyone they had contact with from 48 hours before their first symptoms that they should remain home for 14 days. Those close contacts should also separate from family members.

On Tuesday, state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced new mitigation measures, including stricter masking rules and a requirement that travelers entering Pennsylvania get a virus test within 72 hours before they arrive or quarantine for 14 days afterward. The travel requirement doesn’t apply to commuters

At a Wednesday briefing, the Health Department’s director of testing and contact tracing,

Michael Huff, said Pennsylvania is in a “very dangerous time” and urged people to cooperate when one of the state’s 1,600 contact tracers, or tracers working for about 150 affiliated groups, get in touch.

Huff said people in the 18-35 age group seem especially reluctant to share information with the tracers, and reiterated that the transactions are confidential.

“Contacts are only informed they may have been exposed,” he said. “They not told who may have exposed them.”

Late Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Tom Wolf and six other regional governors issued a statement saying colleges and universities in their states would be urged to test students on campus for the coronavirus before they leave for Thanksgiving break. Those testing positive will be urged to isolate on campus or “detail arrangements of their safe travel home” with health officials.

Huff said Pennsylvania is always trying to improve testing capacity and response times through the state’s 550 contracted test sites and more than 400 public health sites. He also outlined the state’s plans to distribute more than 3.8 million antigen rapid tests allocated to the state by the federal government.

The tests, which have been arriving in weekly allotments since October and will continue through the end of December, are being prioritized for the most vulnerable populations — the elderly and those already in ill health — and communities where outbreaks have been identified. On Wednesday, the Health Department began distributing the tests in Lehigh County.

The counties with the highest reported infections were Philadelphia, with 682; Allegheny, with 620; and Delaware, with 331.