Pa. breaks another daily record with 2,751 cases Tuesday

Pennsylvania once again broke its daily COVID-19 record, with 2,751 cases reported Tuesday.

That brings the state’s total to 198,446, with 23 more deaths, bringing the toll to 8,696, the Health Department said.

The previous daily record of 2,219 additional cases was just set on Friday.

Tuesday’s report showed the Lehigh Valley with

82 new cases — 45 in Lehigh County and 37 in Northampton — but no deaths.

The daily total includes 834 cases in Philadelphia, its largest daily count by far. The city’s previous high was 573 cases on April 9. The total marked an extraordinary jump from the previous day’s 275 cases, so it’s unclear whether the tally included a backlog.

Other counties with large case counts include Berks County with 131 additional tests, Delaware County with 128 and Allegheny County with 106.

The state, like much of the rest of the country, has been struggling with a fall surge of the coronavirus, with at least 1,000 cases reported on all but three days this month so far.

During an online briefing Monday, Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said consistent, proper mask use, hand hygiene and social distancing are still the best tools to stop the spread of the virus.

She also cautioned against using “herd immunity,” or the idea that enough people will eventually develop immunity to the disease, as a strategy to stop its spread.

The number of tests administered Oct. 20-26 is 245,029, with 12,380 positive cases. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 1,939 on Tuesday, up significantly from 1,461 a week ago.

The number of hospitalized patients is 1,170, up from 1,138 on Monday. The total includes 66 people hospitalized in Lehigh County and one in Northampton. Statewide, 110 patients are on ventilators, including six in Lehigh County and one in Northampton.

More than 2.2 million people have tested negative for the virus.

Nursing and personal care homes have had 25,624 resident cases of COVID-19 and 5,539 cases among employees, for a total of 31,163 at 1,052 facilities in 63 counties. Of total deaths, 5,706 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.

Health care workers comprise 12,125 of total cases.

Most of the patients hospitalized are ages 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred in patients 65 or older. But the department said it continues to see significant increases in cases among younger age groups, particularly 19-24.

While the daily increases are comparable to April’s peak numbers, Gov. Tom Wolf has said the state is far better prepared now than it was then to deal with a surge, adding it has plenty of ventilators and hospital beds and has greatly improved testing volume.

The Wolf Administration on Tuesday said it began sending rapid-result antigen test kits to Blair, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Tioga, Venango and Wyoming counties to help contain a surge in virus cases there.

Some other counties have already received the tests, including Schuylkill and Berks.