12,072 more cases over 2 days; 3,465 hospitalized

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 5,950 additional coronavirus cases on Thanksgiving and 6,122 on Friday, for a two-day total of 12,072. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 6,039 cases per day, up 51.9% over the last 30 days.

To date, there have been 1.72 million infections statewide.

Case counts have been rising over the past month, most rapidly in counties in the northwest and north central areas of the state. Venango, Clarion, Clinton and Crawford counties are all adding more than 600 cases per week for every 100,000 residents.

The lowest rates are found in the southeast region, with Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery, Chester and Bucks all showing rates between 100 and 200 weekly cases per 100,000 residents.

Variant Omicron

The delta variant remains the overwhelmingly dominant strain in the U.S. and Pennsylvania, accounting for more than 99% of all cases recorded since Aug. 15, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Omicron variant was classified as a “Variant of Concern” by the World Health Organization on Friday. That is the second-highest of four classifications used by epidemiologists to describe the impact a disease might have on a population. The highest level would be “variant of high consequence.” The are currently no variants in that classification.

The delta variant is also classified as a variant of concern.

Omicron was reported in South Africa only on Nov. 24, according to a report on the WHO website. A test sample collected Nov. 9 is the earliest one confirmed to contain the new variant.

The omicron variant — technically known as SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.1.529) — concerns virologists because of the large number of mutations on its spike protein. It is unclear whether those mutations severely impact the effectiveness of vaccines or treatments.

The WHO reports that preliminary data suggests that those infected with omicron are more likely to become reinfected.

Deaths

There were 146 additional deaths reported Thursday. There was no report Friday. The sevenday moving average of deaths per day is 60.3, compared with 78 a week ago, a decrease of 22.7% in the last seven days. Pennsylvania has recorded 33,247 deaths since March 2020.

Vaccinations

The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show:

There are 7.42 million fully vaccinated people in Pennsylvania, accounting for 58% of the population. An additional 2.91 million people are in need of their follow-up shot. In total, 17.97 million shots have been put into the arms of 10.33 million people, or 80.7% of the state’s residents.

Included in those statewide numbers are 397,018 Lehigh Valley residents who are fully vaccinated, accounting for 58.9% of the local population. In total, 558,793 locals have received 940,104 shots in the arm, accounting for 82.8% of the Valley’s population.

An average of 57,638 vaccinations are being administered to Pennsylvania residents each day, according to CDC data. Of those, 33,745 are first doses. The number of total vaccinations per day is up 35.4% over the last 30 days. The number of first doses being given per day is up 69.6% over the last 30 days.

Data combined from the state and Philadelphia health departments show that more than 1.59 million additional and booster shots have been administered to Pennsylvanians since Aug. 13.

Hospitalizations

There were 3,465 people hospitalized as of midday Friday compared with 3,456 Thursday. Of those, 777 were in intensive care, and 450 were on ventilators. Statewide hospitalizations have increased 12.8% over the last week, and are up 15.9% in the last 30 days.

Statewide hospitalizations are equal to what they were at the end of January of this year, when the state was coming off its largest surge of the pandemic.

Hospitals in the five-county region including Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill and Monroe report 293 patients, with 58 in intensive care, and 22 on ventilators. Regional hospitalizations have increased 13.3% over the last week, and are up 26.3% in the last 30 days.

Testing

There were 12,130 test results reported Friday, with 43.4% of them positive.

The seven-day average percent positive for those tested for the first time is 41.9%, compared with 49.9% a week ago, and 28.8% a month ago.

The overall positive test rate is 19.4% since the state’s first cases were reported March 6 of last year.

Lehigh Valley

Cases: 732 additional case reports over the past two days, with 420 in Lehigh County and 312 in Northampton County. That brings the total to 100,325.

Deaths: Five new deaths reported Thursday (three in Lehigh County, and two in Northampton County). That brings the total to 1,776 (961 in Lehigh, and 815 in Northampton).