Rate spiking for new COVID-19 cases

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 6,024 additional coronavirus cases on Wednesday. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 7,438 cases per day, up 58.6% from a week ago, and up 67.4% over the last 30 days.

Even discounting the 15,414 reinfections added to the tally by the Health Department Saturday, the state is experiencing double-digit growth in new infections. The adjusted seven-day rate is 5,236 average additional cases per day, an 11.6% increase over last week. Also removing Philadelphia’s 1,667 reinfections from the previous seven-day period would result in a week-to-week growth rate of 17.6%.

To date, there have been 1.66 million infections statewide.

There were 150 additional deaths reported Wednesday. The seven-day moving average of deaths per day is 63.6, compared with 68.1 a week ago, a decrease of 6.7% in the last seven days. Pennsylvania has recorded 32,633 deaths since March 2020.

The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows there are 7.9 million fully vaccinated people in Pennsylvania, accounting for 61.7% of the population. An additional 2.65 million people are in need of their follow-up shot. In total, 18.71 million shots have been put into the arms of 10.55 million people, or 82.4% of the state’s residents.

Included in those statewide numbers are 435,931 Lehigh Valley residents who are fully vaccinated, accounting for 64.6% of the local population. In total, 577,473 locals have received 916,741 shots in the arm, accounting for 85.6% of the Valley’s population.

An average of 65,157 vaccinations are being administered to Pennsylvania residents each day, according to CDC data. Of those, 33,460 are first doses. The number of total vaccinations per day is up 56.3% over the last 30 days. The number of first doses being given per day is up 60.8% over the last 30 days.

The latest numbers from the CDC show that 80,956 Pennsylvania children younger than 12 have gotten at least their first shot of the Pfizer vaccine, the only one approved for that age group.

Data combined from the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania health departments count more than 1.28 million booster and additional shots having been administered in Pennsylvania since Aug. 13.

There were 3,016 people hospitalized as of midday Wednesday, compared with 2,848 Tuesday. Of those, 657 were in intensive care, and 359 were on ventilators. Statewide hospitalizations have increased 6.2% over the last week, but are down 8.5% in the last 30 days.

Hospitals in the five-county region including Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill and Monroe report 265 patients, with 57 in intensive care, and 28 on ventilators. Regional hospitalizations have increased 16.3% over the last week, but are down 7.3% in the last 30 days.

The Lehigh Valley reported 320 additional cases, 176 in Lehigh County and 144 in Northampton County. That brings the total to 97,386.

Two new deaths, both in Lehigh County, bring the total to 1,762 (955 in Lehigh, and 807 in Northampton).

— Eugene Tauber