Pennsylvania reports 137 more coronavirus deaths, 707 new cases

Another 137 Pennsylvanians have died from the coronavirus, state health officials said Wednesday, as the statewide death toll nears 4,000.

Officials recorded 707 new cases of the virus between 12 a.m. Tuesday and 12 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the total to 58,698 cases since the first covid-19 cases in the state were diagnosed March 6. It marks the third straight day of fewer than 900 new cases reported.

The newly reported covid-19 deaths bring the statewide total to 3,943.

Across the state, 244,171 people have tested negative for the virus.

Allegheny County health officials reported 12 more deaths, bringing the total to 139 — 109 of whom were long-term care residents. The 19 new cases reported brought the county’s running total to 1,545. Of those, 104 cases have been in employees at care homes.

No new cases or deaths were reported in Westmoreland County, according to the state data. The totals there stand at 419 cases and 32 deaths. At least 27 of the deaths were residents in nine long-term care homes, and 34 employees at those facilities have also fallen ill.

Statewide, 2,705 care home residents have died from the virus, and a total of 12,408 such residents have contracted the virus, which has affected 543 nursing homes and personal care homes. Across those facilities, another 1,806 employees have tested positive.

Racial data continues to elude state officials, and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine has repeatedly called for hospitals and physicians to provide fuller data when reporting positive cases. Despite that, racial data is missing for 62% of the state’s cases. That amounts to missing information for just over 2,000 deaths and nearly 36,600 cases.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced that state health officials would begin collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity for covid-19 patients. Sara Alert, the data collection platform the state will use to help with contact tracing, was asked to modify its data collection to include those categories.

He said the recommendation came from the Health Disparity Task Force, created last month to address the needs of vulnerable and minority populations during the pandemic.