Community levels increase in region
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 15,205 additional coronavirus cases last week, compared with 18,981 the previous one. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 2,172 cases per day, down 19.9% from the prior week, and down 24.6% over the last 30 days.
To date, there have been 3.25 million infections statewide.
The decline in statewide numbers is, in part, reflected in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s changing the number of Pennsylvania counties highly affected by COVID-19 from six to four, accounting for less than 2% of the state’s population.
The eight counties in The Morning coverage area did not fare as well: Carbon County moved from medium to high COVID community levels, while Monroe, Northampton and Lehigh reverted from low back to medium, where they had been for several weeks prior.
The assessment tool incorporates several factors in addition to case numbers, such as test positivity rates, hospital utilization
and hospital admissions. The hospital utilization metric gauges whether local hospital systems are being stressed by the number of COVID-positive patients. The hospital admissions number measures whether people are getting COVID severely enough to warrant medical intervention.
Although Carbon’s hospitalization rates are similar to the Lehigh Valley’s, its case counts are almost twice as high when adjusted for population, and its test positivity rate is about one-third higher than Lehigh or Northampton’s.
The CDC also updated its guidance on masking in health care settings, changing from a blanket recommendation for everyone to mask all the time, to reserving that recommendation only for areas with high transmission rates, defined as more than 100 cases per week for every 100,000 local residents. Masking requirements should follow viral transmission levels, regardless of an area’s community level tool rating.
The latest data shows that 62 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties still have high virus transmission rates. Five counties — Delaware, Forest, Lycoming, Snyder and Tioga — have “substantial” transmission rates, defined as between 50 and 100 weekly cases per 100,000 local residents.
Deaths
There were 61 additional deaths reported so far over the past week, compared with 96 the week before, and 112 three weeks ago. Pennsylvania has recorded 47,213 deaths since March 2020.
Vaccinations
The latest data from the CDC show:
There are 9.07 million fully vaccinated people in Pennsylvania, accounting for 70.8% of the population. An additional 2.18 million people are in need of their follow-up shot. In total, 24.63 million shots have been put into the arms of 11.25 million people, or 87.9% of the state’s residents.
Included in those statewide numbers are 490,579 Lehigh Valley residents who are fully vaccinated, accounting for 72.7% of the local population. In total, 572,594 locals have received 1.28 million shots in the arm, accounting for 84.9% of the Valley’s population.
An average of 4,704 vaccinations are being administered to Pennsylvania
residents each day, according to CDC data. Of those, 1,773 are first doses, while 825 are booster shots. The number of vaccinations per day is down 45.1% over the last 30 days. The number of first doses being given per day is down 23.5% over the last 30 days.
Hospitalizations
There were 1,186 people hospitalized according to the latest report, with 141 in intensive care, and 68 on ventilators. Statewide hospitalizations have increased 1.8% over the last week, but are down 7.5% in the last 30 days.
Hospitals in the Lehigh Valley reported 51 COVID-19 patients, including seven in intensive care, and three on ventilators. Local hospitalizations have increased 8.2% over the last week, and are up 10.6% in the last 30 days.
Lehigh Valley Cases:
816 additional case reports, with 426 in Lehigh County, and 390 in Northampton County. That brings the total to 194,964.
Deaths: Two new deaths, in Northampton County. That brings the total to 2,459 (1,297 in Lehigh, 1,162 in Northampton).