Cases double in a month; 9,322 reported this week

Latest omicrom subvariant accounts for about 19% of new infections nationwide

There have been 9,322 additional coronavirus cases accumulated in the past week, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 1,332 cases per day, up 18.7% from a week ago and more than double the 603 average daily cases recorded four weeks ago.

While cases increase statewide, the rate of increase is moderating: Cases this week are up about 20% compared with last, but last week’s case count had increased more than 40% from the week before. Cases counts are rising in 46 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, declining in 16 counties and holding steady in five.

The latest variant surveillance shows that omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 is making its presence known, accounting for about 19% of new infections nationwide for the week ending April 16. In health care region 3, which includes Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, the new subvariant accounted for about 13% of all coronavirus infections the week ending April 9 but almost doubled to 24% the week ending April 16.

The BA.2 subvariant accounted for 73% of the region’s cases the previous week but has declined to just under 70% for the current week.

The new subvariant accounted for less than 1% of cases in the U.S. and region 3 a month ago.

Community levels

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now lists three counties — Bradford, Sullivan and Susquehanna — as having high community levels, meaning that indoor masking and social distancing are recommended.

That metric includes current case loads and transmission rates as well as hospital usage.

Tioga County, Bradford’s western neighbor, has a medium community level. The other 63 counties, including all in the Lehigh Valley area, remain in the low community level category.

The CDC tool is updated weekly.

To date, there have been 2.8 million infections statewide.

Deaths

There were 118 additional deaths reported this week. The seven-day moving average of deaths per day is 16.9, compared with 10 a week ago, an increase of 68.6% in the last seven days. Pennsylvania has recorded 44,592 deaths since March 2020.

Hospitalizations

There were 500 people hospitalized as of midday Friday, compared with 509 on Thursday. Of those, 68 were in intensive care and 34 were on ventilators.

Statewide hospitalizations have increased 12% over the last week but are down 24% in the last 30 days.

Hospitals in the Lehigh Valley reported 47 COVID19 patients Friday, compared with 46 on Thursday, including six in intensive care and four on ventilators.

Local hospitalizations have increased 16.3% over the last week and are up 5.7% in the last 30 days.

Vaccinations

The latest data from the CDC show:

There are 8.72 million fully vaccinated people in Pennsylvania, accounting for 68.1% of the population. An additional 2.1 million people are in need of their follow-up shot. In total, 22.6 million shots have been put into the arms of 10.83 million people, or 84.6% of the state’s residents.

Included in those statewide numbers are 476,243 Lehigh Valley residents who are fully vaccinated, accounting for 70.6% of the local population. In total, 553,975 locals have received 1,178,690 shots in the arm, accounting for 82.1% of the Valley’s population.

An average of 13,138 vaccinations are being administered to Pennsylvania residents each day, according to CDC data. Of those, 3,822 are first doses.

The number of total vaccinations per day is up 53.1% over the last 30 days. The number of first doses being given per day is up 38% over the last 30 days.

Lehigh Valley

Cases: 605 additional case reports this week, with 301 in Lehigh County and 304 in Northampton County. That brings the total to 170,118.

Deaths: Five new deaths this week (one in Lehigh County, four in Northampton County).

That brings the total to 2,326 (1,236 in Lehigh, and 1,090 in Northampton).