New omicron variant up tenfold in a month

BA.2 thought to be even more transmissible

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 726 additional coronavirus cases on Friday, and 4,224 cases over the past week. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 603 per day, down 23.5% from a week ago, and down 76.1% over the last 30 days. The average rate is at its lowest level since July 26 of last year, 8 months ago.

To date, there have been 2.78 million infections statewide.

While public health officials hold their breath waiting to see if the U.S. will echo Europe’s recent resurgence in case numbers spurred by the omicron subvariant dubbed BA.2, case numbers continue their diminution in the state. That may be due, in part, to the new variant’s relative scarcity in Pennsylvania: the latest surveillance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the BA.2 variant accounts for fewer than one-third of cases in Pennsylvania, while it accounts for more than half of all cases in New York and New England.

Although 30% is relatively low, it is a tenfold increase since February. The new flavor of omicron is thought to be even more transmissible than the previous, but it doesn’t appear to cause more severe illness than the former omicron variant.

Continued good news in the dwindling case numbers is that school-age children appear to be a smaller and smaller portion of the overall caseload. Childhood cases for the week ending Tuesday were at their lowest levels since the Health Department began reporting them in August. Less than 22 cases were reported for every 100,000 children last week, about half the adult rate of 43.6 cases per 100,000.

Children had been getting infected with coronavirus at higher rates than adults through most of 2021, in some areas children were twice as likely to be infected than adults. There are now 9 counties where children are getting infected at higher rates than adults, most notably in Erie.

The balance in the Lehigh Valley is slightly higher, but the overall infection rates are lower: 15.4 per 100,000 in children, and 28.8 per 100,000 adults.

Deaths

There were 169 additional deaths reported in the past week. The seven-day moving average of deaths per day is 24.1, compared with 29 a week ago, a decrease of 16.7% in the last seven days. Pennsylvania has recorded 44,180 deaths since March 2020.

Hospitalizations

There were 531 people hospitalized as of midday Friday compared with 543 Thursday. Of those, 83 were in intensive care, and 54 were on ventilators. Statewide hospitalizations have decreased 19% over the last week, and are down 69.6% in the last 30 days.

Hospitals in the Lehigh Valley reported 38 COVID19 patients Friday, including two in intensive care, and three on ventilators.

Local hospitalizations have decreased 18.6% over the last week, and are down 71% in the last 30 days.

Vaccinations

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

There are 8.64 million fully vaccinated people in Pennsylvania, accounting for 67.5% of the population. An additional 2.1 million people are in need of their follow-up shot. In total, 22.31 million shots have been put into the arms of 10.74 million people, or 83.9% of the state’s residents.

Included in those statewide numbers are 473,047 Lehigh Valley residents who are fully vaccinated, accounting for 70.1% of the local population. In total, 549,945 locals have received 1,168,361 shots in the arm, accounting for 81.5% of the Valley’s population.

An average of 8,036 vaccinations are being administered to Pennsylvania residents each day, according to CDC data. Of those, 2,563 are first doses. The number of total vaccinations per day is down 57.6% over the last 30 days. The number of first doses being given per day is down 53.7% over the last 30 days.

Lehigh Valley

Cases: 235 additional case reports this week, with 95 in Lehigh County, 140 in Northampton County. That brings the total to 168,413.

Deaths: Two deaths this week, one in each county. That brings the total to 2,310 (1,230 in Lehigh, and 1,080 in Northampton).