Pennsylvania adds 891 new covid cases, 10 new deaths

Pennsylvania continued to see elevated new instances of coronavirus Friday, with 891 cases added by the state’s Department of Health.

In the past week, the state has posted 5,671 new cases, a 30% jump in cases from the previous week (Aug. 21-28). This week, Pennsylvania has averaged 810 new cases a day, while last week it averaged 623 per day.

The state added 10 new deaths to its total of 7,742 on Friday. This past week, with 87 new deaths, was the third straight week in which the death total declined. Last week, the state added 97 deaths, the week before that (Aug. 15-21) there were 113, and before that (Aug. 8-14) there were 148.

On Friday, the state reported 46 cases of those who have a positive viral antigen test and are considered probable cases and 646 patients who have a positive serology test and either covid-19 symptoms or a high-risk exposure.

Among the state’s nursing and personal care homes, officials said Friday there have been 21,307 resident cases of covid-19, with 4,564 cases among employees.

According to the state’s covid-19 tracking website, there are 497 Pennsylvanians currently hospitalized for the virus, 66 of them on a ventilator.

Philadelphia County posted the highest number of new covid cases (126) on Friday, followed by Allegheny (92), Bucks (62), York (49), Montgomery (48) and Chester (47). There were 46 counties posting less than 10 new cases, 15 of those posting no new cases at all.

Of the state’s total covid deaths, 5,235 (67.6%) have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.

According to the state’s covid-19 dashboard, 82% of those who have contracted the virus have recovered. The state considers individuals recovered if their case has not been reported as a death and it has been more than 30 days past the date of their first positive test (or onset of symptoms).

The state site reports a total of 2,352,923 PCR tests have been administered in the state, which includes those who have been tested more than once. Of the 1,714,541 individuals tested, the state has seen 1,576,879 test negative (137,662 positive), for a negativity rate of 92%.