Lehigh County among state’s lowest case rates

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 186 additional coronavirus cases Thursday. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 174, down 8% from a week ago and down 78% over the last month.

While the statewide case rate is down significantly since the beginning of June, it has been leveling off in the last week, perhaps indicating a summer plateau. The population-adjusted rate of 9.5 cases each week per 100,000 residents is a little more than one-third the U.S. rate of 26.6 weekly population-adjusted cases.

Thirty of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties did not report additional cases Thursday.

The combined case rate for Lehigh and Northampton counties continues to dwindle, with Thursday’s rate of 4.2 cases per 100,000 residents per week less than half the statewide rate and about six times less than the national rate.

Taken individually, the case rates show Lehigh County’s 0.81 weekly cases per 100,000 residents to be among the lowest in the state, following Warren, Jefferson and Clarion counties, which are all at zero. Lehigh’s rate is less than 10% of the statewide rate.

Northampton County is adding 8.2 weekly population-adjusted cases, still lower than the state average but about middling among the 67 counties.

To date, there have been 1.21 million infections statewide since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccinations

Data from the Health Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 13.87 million shots have been administered to 8.03 million residents, accounting for 72.4% of the state’s 12-and-older population.

More than 6.34 million people — 57.3% of the eligible population — are fully vaccinated, while another 1.68 million need their follow-up shot.

The Lehigh Valley has seen more than 749,000 jabs go into 446,900 local arms, accounting for 76.8% of the eligible population, including 346,730 Valley residents who are fully vaccinated — 59.6% of those eligible.

The CDC data includes all vaccinations administered according to the recipient’s residency, no matter where or by whom they were administered.

The state’s vaccination data, which excludes shots given to residents outside the state or by federal entities inside the state, show that the number of jabs continues to fall, averaging 17,169 per day as of June 26. Vaccinators have several days in which to report their numbers to the state. The average had topped 115,000 per day in mid-April.

Deaths

Overall: 9 compared with 8 on Wednesday. The seven-day moving average of deaths per day is 9, compared with 12 a week ago, a 26% weekly decline.

Senior Care: 13,353 total, accounting for 48.2% of the

state’s 27,687 deaths.

Hospitalizations

There were 310 people hospitalized as of midday Thursday compared with 313 on Wednesday. Of those, 59 were in intensive care, and 43 were on ventilators. The average number of hospitalized COVID patients has declined 69% in the last month and is at its lowest rate in more than a year.

Hospitals in the Lehigh Valley reported 28 COVID-19 patients Thursday compared with 28 on Wednesday, including two in intensive care and three on ventilators.

Testing

There were 5,248 test results reported Thursday, with 3% of them positive, compared with 3.4% on Wednesday.

The overall positive test rate is 17.5% since the state’s first cases were reported March 6 of last year.

Lehigh Valley

Cases: Seven additional case reports, with three in Lehigh County, four in Northampton County. That brings the total to 75,738.

Deaths: No new deaths in either county. There have been 1,578 local COVID-related deaths (861 in Lehigh, and 717 in Northampton).