Pennsylvania sees another record day, adds 5,488 new coronavirus cases
Pennsylvania’s Department of Health reported 5,488 new positive cases of coronavirus on Thursday, the first time the state has seen over 5,000 new cases in a day.
The state has seen several days with record number of cases this week. There were 4,711 new cases on Wednesday and 4,361 on Tuesday, both previous record days. The new cases bring the state’s total to 248,856.
The seven-day average of cases crept above 4,000 on Thursday.
There were 49 new deaths also announced bringing the total to 9,194.
Thursday’s death total rose by 49, although 51 deaths were actually added: 43 in November, seven in October and one in September. One death each was removed from daily totals in April and July.
In November, there have been 38,920 cases and 377 deaths related to coronavirus so far. There were about 48,000 case and 652 deaths because of the virus in October.
The biggest jump in cases on Thursday was in Philadelphia County with 624. Allegheny County had 412 new cases, while Westmoreland County had 207 new cases.
The department stated that 331,492 tests were administered within the last seven days between Nov. 5 and Wednesday with 25,702 positive cases. The state said that this was a record high number of PCR test results reported to the department.
More than 2.7 million people in the state have been tested for the virus. The overall PCR test positivity is 8.54%.
Statewide, there were 2,080 individuals hospitalized, 438 of whom were in intensive care units and 207 of whom were using ventilators, according to the state. Most of the patients hospitalized are ages 65 or older.
According to the state, a large number of cases are related to nursing and personal care homes. There are 28,576 resident cases of covid-19 in these homes, and 5,972 cases among employees, for a total of 34,548 at 1,132 distinct facilities.
Out of the total number of deaths, 5,999 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.
Approximately 13,202 of the total cases in the state are among health care workers.
The department said that mask-wearing is required in all businesses, stressing that mask-wearing is one way to help prevent the spread of covid-19.
Frank Carnevale is the TribLive multimedia editor. He started at the Trib in 2016 and has been part of several news organizations, including the Providence Journal and Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at fcarnevale@triblive.com.
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