Pennsylvania reports 2,800 more covid cases, 90 deaths

Pennsylvania health officials on Saturday reported 2,818 new coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and case counts continue to decrease in the Keystone State.

The new data bring the total cases to 911,591.

That’s a jump of almost 19,300 additional cases from this time last week. Two weeks ago, the increase was about 27,000.

Officials said nearly 125,500 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 90 new deaths.

The total number of covid-19 deaths in Pennsylvania is 23,570 — nearly 500 more fatalities than last week (23,072). Three weeks ago, the change was more than triple that, at 1,600.

Health officials say there are 2,061 patients hospitalized in the state, representing 487 fewer patients than at this time last week.

Also encouraging news: Officials noted that the 14-day average is about 3,500 lower than it was during the virus’ peak last Christmas.

Of the new number, 443 patients are in an intensive care unit — 53 fewer than at this time last week. These numbers show 1 of 5, or just over 21%, of hospitalized patients are in an ICU.

There are currently 259 patients on ventilators, down 12 from last week.

Officials say positivity rate in the state during the past week is 6.5%, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous week.

Out of the new cases reported Saturday, 285 — or 10% — are from Allegheny County. Philadelphia reported an increase of 198, accounting for 7% of cases — despite Philadelphia having a larger population.

West­moreland County reported 98, which amounted to 3.5% of the state’s new cases.

More than 3.8 million people in Pennsylvania have tested negative for the virus out of the more than 4.7 million people in the state who have been tested.

The overall positivity rate is around 16.5%.

State officials said 1.9 million doses of covid-19 vaccines have been administered across the state as of Friday.

Officials said of the total vaccinations, more than 1.4 million people have received the first dose out of the two-shot vaccine, which makes them partially covered. And about 510,000 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 65,992 cases in residents and 12,816 in employees.

There have been 12,223 deaths at nursing and personal care homes. These deaths account for about 52% of the state’s total. About 1,565 nursing facilities have been affected by the virus.

Of the total coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania, 24,419 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 — even if the person is fully vaccinated. Officials say face coverings are critical preventing the spread of the virus.