Pennsylvania reports more than 2,200 new coronavirus cases, 44 deaths

Pennsylvania has experienced its largest spike in coronavirus cases during October.

After reporting 2,202 new cases on Thursday, the state have accumulated 43,909 cases for the month with two days to go. At the start of the pandemic, cases grew quickly with 40,000 cases in April. But September recorded just under 25,000 cases and August saw about 22,000 cases.

The total number of cases in the state stands at 202,876. October has seen six days of over 2,000 cases reported and the seven-day average of cases hovers at that mark, as well.

The biggest jump in cases on Thursday were in Philadelphia County with 361. Allegheny County had 149 new cases, while Westmoreland County had 74 new cases.

The department stated that 248,480 tests were administered within the last seven days between Oct. 22-Oct. 28 with 14,377 positive cases.

More than 2.4 million people in the state have been tested for the virus. The overall positivity rate is 8.16%.

The state Department of Health also reported 44 new deaths on Thursday attributed to coronavirus after posting 22 on Wednesday and 23 on Tuesday. The state death total stands at 8,762.

All the deaths reported Thursday are from October.

The state covid-19 dashboard shows that there are 1,229 people currently hospitalized with 127 of them on ventilators.

According to the state, there are 25,844 resident cases of covid-19 in nursing and personal care homes, and 603 cases among employees, for a total of 31,447 at 1,060 distinct facilities.

Out of the total number of deaths, 5,758 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.

Approximately 12,264 of the total cases in the state are among health care workers.

The Department of Health advises that people should stay at least 6 feet away from others not in their household, wash their hands often, avoid touching their face and stay home if they feeling sick.