Virus case numbers continue to increase
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 7,604 additional coronavirus cases on Friday, continuing a recent rapid increase in case numbers. The sevenday moving average of newly reported cases was 7,923 cases per day, up 66.1% from a week ago, and up 86.9% over the last 30 days.
Pennsylvania has added 55,458 cases in the past seven days, including 15,414 reinfection cases added Nov.13. Even without those cases, the 40,044 weekly case total is the highest seen since Jan. 21, when the state was coming out of its largest wave of the pandemic that peaked in mid-December.
The growth rate without the reinfection cases is 26.2% since last week, and 35% in the last 30 days.
Friday marks the third consecutive day that the state added more than 6,000 cases, a streak also not seen since mid-January.
To date, there have been 1.67 million infections statewide.
Allegheny County added 845 cases, bringing its total to 143,372.
There were 96 additional deaths reported Friday in the state. The seven-day moving average of deaths per day is 78, compared with 60.6 a week ago, an increase of 28.8% in the last seven days. Pennsylvania has recorded 32,825 deaths since March 2020.
Allegheny County had two new deaths, and its total stands at 2,422.
The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show:
There are 7.92 million fully vaccinated people in Pennsylvania, accounting for 61.8% of the population. An additional 2.71 million people are in need of their follow-up shot. In total, 18.85 million shots have been put into the arms of 10.63 million people, or 83% of the state’s residents.
An average of 69,219 vaccinations are being administered to Pennsylvania residents each day, according to CDC data. Of those, 37,101 are first doses. The number of total vaccinations per day is up 62.8% over the last 30 days. The number of first doses being given per day is up 80.6% over the last 30 days.
Data combined from the state and Philadelphia health departments show that more than 1.39 million booster and additional shots have been administered to Pennsylvania residents since Aug. 13.
There were 3,095 people hospitalized as of midday Friday compared with 3,032 Thursday. Of those, 702 were in intensive care, and 381 were on ventilators. Statewide hospitalizations have increased 10.3% over the last week, and are down 3.9% in the last 30 days.