Northampton County still leads state in COVID-19 rate

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 1,493 additional coronavirus cases Wednesday. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 1,165, up 83% from a week ago, and up 521% over the last 30 days.

To date, there have been 1.23 million infections statewide.

Northampton County continues to lead the state in population-adjusted case rates over seven days, recording 119.2 cases each week for every 100,000 residents. It is followed by Lawrence County at 101.7 population-adjusted cases; those are the only two counties in triple digits for the measure, which puts them in the highest classification for community transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pennsylvania’s Education Departments no longer track community transmission, instead linking to the CDC’s data from its web page.

Louisiana’s 696 population-adjusted weekly case rate is nearly seven times that of Northampton County, and about 11 times higher than Pennsylvania’s 63.7 weekly rate. The latest CDC data show that Florida is second (575), and is followed by Arkansas (441), Mississippi (403) and Missouri (305) as the five states with highest population-adjusted rates.

South Dakota has the lowest rate, at 8.8 weekly cases for each 100,000 residents, the only state to meet the CDC’s criteria for having “low” transmission rates.

The state reported 15 deaths, compared with 11 Tuesday. The sevenday moving average of deaths per day is 6.4, compared with 3.6 a week ago, an increase of 80% in the last seven days. COVID-related deaths, like hospitalizations, are considered a lagging indicator, with deaths increasing and decreasing about four weeks behind new case reports. Pennsylvania’s latest case surge began in the second week of July.

The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows there are 6.73 million fully vaccinated people in Pennsylvania, accounting for 53% of the population. An additional 1.7 million people are in need of their follow-up shot. In total, 14.63 million shots have been put into the arms of 8.43 million people, or 66% million of the state’s residents.

Included in those totals are 370,292 Lehigh Valley residents who are fully vaccinated, accounting for 54.9% of the local population. In total, 472,074 locals have received 747,495 shots in the arm, accounting for 70% of the Valley’s population.

More Pennsylvanians are rolling up their sleeves to get inoculated against COVID-19. The number of initial vaccination being administered to Pennsylvanians each day averaged 13,743 as of July 30. Vaccinators have several days to report their numbers to state and federal public health authorities.

A total of 24,401 jabs are being administered on a daily basis, a slow recovery after a dramatic slide from almost 190,000 daily shots recorded in mid-April, according to CDC data. The CDC tracks vaccinations by the recipient’s state of residency, no matter where or from whom they got their shot.

There were 583 people hospitalized as of midday Wednesday, compared with 563 Tuesday. Of those, 126 were in intensive care, and 65 were on ventilators. Hospitalizations have increased more than 66% in the last month.

Hospitals in the Lehigh Valley reported 34 COVID-19 patients Wednesday, compared with 37 Tuesday, including 10 in intensive care, and four on ventilators.

The Lehigh Valley reported 127 additional cases, 53 in Lehigh County and 74 in Northampton County. That brings the total to 77,041.

One new death, in Lehigh County, brings the total to 1,591 (871 in Lehigh, and 720 in Northampton).

— Eugene Tauber