Pennsylvania reports 60 more deaths, over 1,200 new coronavirus cases

Another 60 coronavirus deaths were reported across Pennsylvania on Thursday, pushing the death toll above 700 as the case count eclipsed 27,000.

The deaths, reported to the state throughout the day Wednesday, bring the total to 707, according to the Department of Health. The 1,245 new cases reported during that time brings the state’s running case count to 27,735.

Forty deaths were reported at nursing homes across the state during that time. State health officials recently began breaking down covid-19 data as it relates to long-term care facilities, and on Wednesday Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said there had been 324 deaths among nursing home residents.

That number jumped to 365 on Thursday.

Levine said the department would start releasing the scant information it has on the racial breakdown of covid-19 cases and deaths. That information is unavailable for nearly three-quarters of the state’s cases. That leaves more than 20,000 cases and nearly 350 deaths for which the state has no racial data.

The breakdown of the racial information the state does have:

African American/Black: 2,324 positive cases (8%) and 11 deaths

Asian: 237 positive cases (1%) and 90 deaths

White: 4,540 positive cases (16%) and 257 deaths

Other: 83 positive cases (<1%) and 1 death

The department has also started releasing data on how many covid-19 tests come back negative in each county, essentially giving a snapshot of how many tests are being done daily in each county.

Across the state, 113,735 people have tested negative. Just under 10,000 people have tested negative in Allegheny County since testing began.

Overall on Thursday, Allegheny County reported 12 more deaths, though local officials cautioned that the relatively large number comes from a delay in data reporting. The county has now seen 38 deaths, and the total case count is 925.

State data showed there were 121 cases of covid-19 among residents in 18 long-term care facilities. There have been 26 care-facility deaths in the county.

The Westmoreland County coroner reported another death Thursday morning, bringing his total to 19. State officials were reporting 13 deaths and 240 cases.

This story will be updated.