State reports 12,745 more cases

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania reported 12,745 more cases of the coronavirus and 225 more deaths Friday as a state spokesman saw a “glimmer of hope” in a flattening out of hospitalization counts that earlier in the week were surging.

The number of people hospitalized statewide early Friday afternoon was 5,668, or 209 fewer than the 5,877 who were hospitalized on Thursday, and the increase logged from Wednesday to Thursday was 25, the smallest of the week.

The increases on the three previous days were 149, 140, and 291.

State Health Department spokesman Nate Wardle said two days of data did not constitute a trend. But he acknowledged it was a “glimmer of hope,” and said a two-day stretch without surges in hospitalizations made it less likely the Friday decline resulted from a hospital data error.

Taking pressure off hospitals and health care workers was one of Gov. Tom Wolf’s stated goals on Thursday, when he issued new virus mitigation orders that include a threeweek shutdown of gyms, casinos, theaters and indoor dining at restaurants, among other things.

That shutdown was scheduled to start Saturday at 12:01 a.m. and lasts until Jan. 4.

There were 1,151 people with the virus in intensive care Friday, down from 1,218 on Thursday, while 651 were on ventilators compared to 675 on Thursday.

A separate set of state data on Friday showed a 16.7% drop in the number of COVID19 admissions to hospitals in the preceding 48 hours in the region that includes the Lehigh Valley. It was the second straight day of declines.

At the same time, the southeast region of the state on Friday became the third to reach a state-set warning threshold concerning hospital staffing. Data showed that 33.3% of hospitals in the region anticipate staffing shortages within the next week.

The southeast region includes Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia counties.

On Friday, the newly reported cases included 294 in Lehigh County and 269 in Northampton County. The newly reported deaths included six in Lehigh County and five in Northampton County.

The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 10,205 on Friday, compared to 7,855 a week ago.

Wolf, speaking about his new mitigation orders on Thursday, said, “We need to slow the spread right now to save lives.”