COVID-19 rate up 77% in last week

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 1,731 additional coronavirus cases Thursday. The sevenday moving average of newly reported cases was 1,256, up 77% from a week ago. The rate has increased sevenfold, from 181, 30 days ago.

To date, there have been 1.23 million infections statewide.

Northampton maintains the highest population-adjusted rate statewide, and it keeps getting higher, 120.2 cases over seven days for every 100,000 residents. The county crossed the 100 weekly case rate threshold Tuesday to put it in the “high” transmission tier as designated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Northampton’s rate was 55 population-adjusted cases last week.

All other counties in the region are designated “substantial” with the exception of Schuylkill, which is “moderate.” The tiers are based on population-adjusted rates and coronavirus test positivity rates.

Potter County, with a sevenday rate of 102.9 cases for every 100,000 residents, is the only other Pennsylvania county above the threshold, with Lawrence (95.5), Bear (92.1) and Monroe (88.7) rounding out the top five of the state’s 67 counties.

The state reported seven deaths, compared with 15 Wednesday. The seven-day moving average of deaths per day is 6.9, compared with 3.3 a week ago, an increase of 109% in the last seven days.

The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show there are 6.74 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, 14.66 million shots have been put into the arms of 8.45 million people, or 66% of the state’s residents.

Included in those totals are 371,078 Lehigh Valley residents who are fully vaccinated, accounting for 55% of the local population. A total of 473,150 locals have received 748,695 shots in the arm, accounting for 70.1% of the Valley’s population.

There were 624 people hospitalized as of midday Thursday, compared with 583 Wednesday. Of those, 141 were in intensive care, and 85 were on ventilators. It is the first time in two months that more than 600 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized in Pennsylvania. Hospitalizations have increased 76% in the last month.

Hospitals in the Lehigh Valley reported 41 COVID-19 patients Thursday, compared with 34 Wednesday, including 13 in intensive care, and seven on ventilators.

The Lehigh Valley reported 101 additional cases, 53 in Lehigh County and 48 in Northampton County. That brings the total to 77,142.

No new deaths in the area leaves the total at 1,591 (871 in Lehigh, 720 in Northampton).

— Eugene Tauber