Covid cases continue to drop in Pennsylvania, fewer deaths starting to follow

With new coronavirus cases on the decline in Pennsylvania, a report from the state Department of Health shows covid-related deaths are also beginning to slow slightly.

Over the past two days, the state added 7,910 new cases of covid-19 — a 21% drop from the same two-day period last week, and 38% fewer than two weeks ago.

Health officials added 138 new covid-related deaths in the two-day period, lowering the state’s seven-day average to 1,274. That number is 17% lower than last Monday’s average (1,537). The drop is especially noteworthy because this week’s average includes Wednesday’s addition of 401 deaths, which was the third-highest single-day report of deaths since the pandemic began.

Of the newly reported deaths, 134 are from January, three are from December and one is from November. There have been 20,664 deaths related to covid-19 since last March.

Out of the total deaths recorded in Pennsylvania, 10,230 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.

Health officials reported Monday that statewide percent positivity for the week of Jan. 15-21 stood at 10.5%.

Officials reported that, through Jan. 24, there have been 680,219 doses of the vaccine administered in the state. That number includes vaccines — both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — administered through CVS pharmacies as part of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership. The state reports 451,467 people have received one dose and 114,376 have received two doses.

In the state’s nursing and personal care homes, officials reported there have been 61,629 resident cases of covid-19, with 11,593 cases among employees. About 22,219 of the state’s total covid cases have been recorded among health care workers.

According to the Open Data PA website, there are currently 3,887 Pennsylvania residents hospitalized for covid-19, with 770 of them in intensive care units and 461 on a ventilator.

Over the past two days, Allegheny County added the most new cases with 620. It was followed by Philadelphia (562), Montgomery (560), Bucks (422) and Lancaster (413). Other counties in Western Pennsylvania were lower, including Westmoreland (213), Washington (145), Butler (132), Fayette (100), Beaver (71), Lawrence (54), Somerset (45), Armstrong (34), Indiana (29), Greene (24) and Clarion (5).

Since the pandemic began there have been 807,867 cases of coronavirus, with 710,456 of them being confirmed through PCR tests.