Pennsylvania records 640,000 covid-19 cases, nearly 16,000 deaths in 2020

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday reported 8,992 additional coronavirus cases and 306 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, closing the year with 640,325 cases and 15,978 deaths since the pandemic began here in March.

December recorded the highest number of cases for the year: 278,861. November had 153,437 recorded cases, while October had 49,060. The state also recorded 5,595 deaths in December.

Allegheny County ended the year with 53,809 coronavirus cases and Westmoreland saw 19,333 cases. Here’s the total number of cases for the other counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania: Armstrong (3,465), Beaver (8,433), Butler (9,361), Fayette (7,247), Indiana (3,950), Somerset (4,849) and Washington (8,947).

Philadelphia County had the highest number of cases (88,150) in the state.

Of the 306 newly reported deaths, 304 are from December and two are from November. The total number of deaths in December is currently 4,499.

The state noted that more than 3.2 million people in Pennsylvania have tested negative for the virus.

According to the state covid-19 dashboard, there are 5,677 people hospitalized with covid-19. Of that number, 1,205 patients are in an intensive care unit. The state reported that the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 is near double the peak in the spring.

According to the state, there are 53,220 resident cases of covid-19 in nursing and personal care homes, and 9,730 cases among employees, for a total of 62,950 at 1,470 distinct facilities.

Of the total number of deaths, 8,872 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.

About 19,256 of the total cases in the state are among health care workers.

On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf cautioned the pandemic is far from ending, but he did not extend restrictions that were in place for the past three weeks. The restrictions will expire Monday.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine on Wednesday said future increases in cases can be stopped if people follow the advice that has been given by health officials all year: wear a mask, wash your hands, stay home.

“Go out as little as possible,” she said.

The state recently launched an online dashboard so people can track the distribution of the coronavirus vaccines. As of Dec. 30, the dashboard shows that 96,045 doses of the vaccines have been administered in the state.