Pennsylvania adds another day of 10,000 coronavirus cases, 273 deaths

Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 10,045 new coronavirus cases, making this the first time the Keystone State has posted consecutive 10,000-case days in nearly a month.

The last time commonwealth posted back-to-back cases of that amount was Dec. 12 and 13, when 11,084 and 10,684 cases were reported.

The new data bring the total cases to 713,310.

That’s a jump of just over 56,000 cases from this time last week.

Officials said around 81,000 of the total cases are considered probable. Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

The state also reported 273 new deaths.

The total number of covid-19 deaths in Pennsylvania is 17,667 — just over 1,400 more fatalities than last week (16,239).

Health officials say there are 5,318 patients currently hospitalized in the state, representing 306 fewer patients than at this time last week.

However, officials say this number is nearly double the amount of covid patients in the hospital during the spring. They also noted that the 14-day moving average is nearly 5,200 more than the end of September.

Of the new number, 1,092 patients are in an intensive care unit — 80 fewer than at this time last week. These numbers show 1 of 5, or 20%, of hospitalized patients are in an ICU.

Officials say positivity rate in the state during the past week is 15%.

Out of the new cases reported Saturday, 849 — or 8.4% — are from Allegheny County. Philadelphia reported an increase of 638, accounting for 6.4% of cases.

West­moreland County reported 273, which amounted to 2.7% of the state’s new cases.

More than 3.36 million people in Pennsylvania have tested negative for the virus out of a total of about 4.1 million people in the state who have been tested.

The overall positivity rate is around 15%.

According to the state Health Department, the most severe cases are seen in patients over the age of 65. This group accounts for the largest age demographic for hospitalizations and deaths.

In nursing and personal care homes, there have been 56,791 cases in residents and 10,543 in employees.

There have been 9,365 deaths at nursing and personal care homes. These deaths account for about 53% of the state’s total. About 1,492 nursing facilities have been affected by the virus.

Of the total coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania, 20,545 stem from health care workers.

State officials said 223,025 of covid-19 vaccines have been administered across the state through Friday — most of which have been distributed to health care workers and first responders.

They noted that this total does not include vaccines administered through CVS as part of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership, meaning the total of those who have received vaccines in the state is presumed to be higher.

PA:

Gov. Tom Wolf on Dec. 10 enacted new restrictions throughout the commonwealth affecting indoor dining, school sports and exercising in gymnasiums. Those restrictions expired on Monday.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine urges people to continue to exercise caution when in public — mainly by maintaining social distance and wearing masks.

Mask-wearing is required in all businesses in the state, an action that health officials say is critical preventing the spread of the virus.