Pennsylvania reports 78 more coronavirus deaths as total case count nears 20,000

Seventy-eight new coronavirus-related deaths were reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Health throughout the day Thursday to bring the state’s death toll to 416, according to state health officials.

The total coronavirus case count is approaching 20,000, the data show.

The state saw three days this week where new deaths topped 70. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said that is not unexpected and likely includes individuals who have been sick and deteriorated over the past days and weeks.

“I think that we are seeing an increase in the number of deaths of these patients who have been ill for a while now and finally, tragically, have succumb to covid-19,” she said.

Levine appeared on CNN prior to her daily briefing to talk about the growing number of cases and deaths in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties, which members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force have said could be the country’s next hotspot.

Today @SecretaryLevine talked with @CNN's @andersoncooper about #COVID19 in Pennsylvania.

Watch ⤵️ https://t.co/utBjEB9bjN

— PA Department of Health (@PAHealthDept) April 10, 2020

She said in an interview with Anderson Cooper that state officials have expanded testing in recent weeks and hope to continue that expansion. The state does not, however, have the capacity to do mass testing throughout the state as it has done in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties.

Levine also said that as the numbers across the state begin to stabilize, she hopes the Department of Health will be able to resume contact tracing – determining where an individual became infected and who they were in contact with after that.

In Philadelphia, deaths surpassed 100, reaching 110 with now more than 5,500 cases of the virus. In Montgomery County, cases reached nearly 1,900 on Friday and the death toll rose to 50. Bucks County stood at 958 cases and 26 deaths.

Pennsylvania’s new deaths included six reported in Allegheny County on Friday morning.

The state reported 12 new cases and four new deaths in Westmoreland County, increasing the respective totals to 202 cases and five deaths. Coroner Ken Bacha said Friday morning that the county has 11 deaths and state officials were behind on their count.

The 1,751 new cases reported Friday brought the running statewide total to 19,979. That’s about a 9.6% increase over the previous day’s statewide case count.

The state saw nearly 2,000 new cases reported Thursday, the largest one-day increase since the first covid-19 case was confirmed in the state on March 6.

Butler County reported one more death to bring its total to three, and the county has seen 123 cases of the virus to date. Somerset and Washington counties both reported three more cases, bringing their respective totals to 10 and 66.