Pennsylvania posts 3,930 new covid cases, 157 deaths

Pennsylvania health officials on Saturday reported 3,930 new coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and case counts continue to trend downward in the Keystone State.

The new data bring the total cases to 865,604.

That’s a jump of more than 26,000 additional cases from this time last week. Two weeks ago, the increase was about 39,000.

Officials said more than 115,000 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 157 new deaths.

The total number of covid-19 deaths in Pennsylvania is 22,396 — just under 800 more fatalities than last week (21,602). Two weeks ago, the change was nearly double at 1,600.

Health officials say there are 3,041 patients hospitalized in the state, representing 545 fewer patients than at this time last week.

However, officials say this number is nearly double the amount of covid patients in the hospital last spring. They also noted that the 14-day average is nearly 3,000 more than the end of September.

Of the new number, 644 patients are in an intensive care unit — 55 fewer than at this time last week. These numbers show 1 of 5, or about 21%, of hospitalized patients are in an ICU.

There are currently 338 patients on ventilators, down 113 from last week.

Officials say positivity rate in the state during the past week is by 9.3%, unmoved from the previous week.

Out of the new cases reported Saturday, 271 — or 6.9% — are from Allegheny County.

Nearly 3.7 million people in Pennsylvania have tested negative for the virus out of the more than 4.5 million people in the state who have been tested.

The overall positivity rate is around 16.5%.

State officials said 1.2 million doses of covid-19 vaccines will have been administered across the state through the end of Saturday. In reality, 960,000 people have been vaccinated in the state — mainly health care workers, first responders and the elderly.

Officials said of that total vaccinations, nearly 700,000 people have received the first dose out of the two-shot vaccine, which makes them partially covered. And 266,000 people have received both doses.

They noted that this total include vaccines administered through CVS and Walgreens as part of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership. However, these numbers neither include records from Philadelphia, which is its own jurisdiction, nor do they include vaccines administered at federal facilities which are working directly with the federal government.

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 64,192 cases in residents and 12,015 in employees.

There have been 11,706 deaths at nursing and personal care homes. These deaths account for about 52% of the state’s total. About 1,554 nursing facilities have been affected by the virus.

Of the total coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania, 23,731 stem from health care workers.

Pennsylvania health officials urge 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.