Pennsylvania reports 29K new covid cases in past week; deaths at same rate as last month

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health released its weekly update on covid-19, reporting 29,227 new cases in the past week.

While the overall number of cases rose 4.8% from May 18 to 24, the growth of new cases week over week dropped significantly. From May 11 to 18, the increase was 23%.

The seven-day average of new cases in the state stands at 4,175.

Among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists 17 counties in the medium transmission group, including Allegheny County. The number of counties listed with high transmission levels jumped from eight a week ago to 23 this week. Most of the high-rated counties are in the state’s eastern/northern regions. The remaining 27 counties, including all counties in the western half of the state (other than Allegheny) are among the low group.

Cases

Allegheny County added 4,219 new cases in the past week, a 19.3% increase over last week’s report (3,536). The county’s daily new case average stands at 603. In Westmoreland County, there were 824 new cases — a 36.4% jump from last week’s report (total).

Since the pandemic began, there have been 2,907,324 cases in Pennsylvania — 2.4 million confirmed through PCR testing and more than 502,500 listed as probable. In Allegheny County, there have been 279,182 total cases and in Westmoreland, 82,436.

Deaths

In the past week, there have been 54 new covid-related deaths added to the state’s total of 45,147 such fatalities since the start of the pandemic. The state is now averaging 7.7 deaths per day, the same number the state was seeing one month ago.

The Allegheny County Health Department’s website shows 3,268 covid-related deaths, three more than last week. However, the state’s report is showing Allegheny County with 3,348 total covid deaths, an increase of 21 in the past week. The discrepancy has long been unaccounted for between the departments.

Westmoreland County’s covid death total stands at 1,390 — 10 more than was reported one week ago.

Hospitalizations

There are 1,286 Pennsylvanians hospitalized with covid-19. Of those, 151 (11.7%) are in intensive care and 52 on ventilators. In the past week, the state’s hospitalized numbers rose by just over 11%.

In Allegheny County, there are 177 residents in the hospital — an increase of 20 in the past week. There are 18 patients in the ICU and seven on a ventilator. Westmoreland County’s hospitalized numbers dropped by three to 19 patients, with two of them in the ICU and none on a ventilator.

Vaccinations

There are around 8.7 million Pennsylvanians (67.2%) fully vaccinated against coronavirus, with 10.5 million (81%) at least partially vaccinated.

In Allegheny County, 835,826 (68.3%) are fully vaccinated, with 984,699 (80.5%) partially covered. In Westmoreland, those numbers are 226,648 (62.1%) and 199,519 (54.6%).