Deaths from the coronavirus in Pennsylvania jumped to six statewide, health officials said Monday, the same day the state saw its highest one-day increase in positive cases.
In addition to one death in Allegheny County, a second person has died in Northampton County. Monroe, Montgomery and Lackawanna counties have each reported one death from covid-19.
The number of patients with the virus increased by 165 from Sunday to Monday, bringing the statewide total to 644.
In Westmoreland County, state officials reported two new cases of the virus, though county officials said two additional cases — four total — were reported at Excela Health in Greensburg on Monday morning. Those new cases doubled the county’s tally, which stood at four over the weekend.
It’s the biggest one-day increase since the first cases were identified in the state on March 6.
As of midnight, 6,595 patients tested negative for the virus.
The 34% increase came the same day that Gov. Tom Wolf issued a stay-at-home order for multiple counties, including Allegheny.
Health Department Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said the goal of the governor’s order is to keep Pennsylvania from experiencing a situation like that in Italy, where sick patients far outnumber hospital beds and ventilators.
“If we do not do this, then we would anticipate a large surge of cases as was seen in Italy and other areas, and that could overwhelm our hospitals and health systems,” she said.
It’s also to designed to buy time for those hospitals and health systems to get the supplies and space they need to treat an increased number of critically ill patients.
Wolfnoted that the number of cases in the state is roughly doubling every two days.
“At this rate, very quickly, we will overtake the capacity of our health care system, and that will lead to very, very bad results,” he said.
