Pennsylvania reports nearly 15,000 new covid cases, 111 deaths over 2 days

Pennsylvania added 14,960 new covid cases over the past two days, according to a report Monday from the Department of Health.

Officials said there were 8,630 new cases Sunday and 6,330 cases Monday. While down nearly 40% from the previous two days (24,647), it’s more than 50% higher than last week’s Sunday-Monday total (9,797). Health officials have long cautioned that weekend covid numbers are down because of lab delays.

The statewide total of coronavirus cases is now at 426,444.

Despite the slight drop, the state still posted a seven-day record of 64,980 cases, as well as a seven-day average of 9,283 cases per day.

Officials reported 111 new covid-related deaths — 69 on Sunday, 42 on Monday. To date, 11,373 state residents have died of covid-related illness.

Among the newest cases, 14,262 were confirmed from PCR tests.

Statewide percent positivity for the week of Nov. 27-Dec. 3 was 14.4%.

Allegheny posted the most new cases Monday (616) of all of the state’s 67 counties. Bucks County was the second highest with 527, followed by Philadelphia (507), Montgomery (269), Berks (258), Lehigh (255), Lancaster (244) and Westmoreland (237).

Thirteen counties posted single-digit caseloads, with Cameron the only county to post no new covid cases.

However, Cameron did post its first death of the pandemic, becoming the last remaining Pennsylvania county to do so. Forest and Sullivan counties are the only other locations with only one covid-related death.

“The latest update continues to show the effect covid-19 is having in Pennsylvania,” Gov. Tom Wolf said via a press release Monday. “The mitigation steps in place are necessary to prevent our health system from being overrun. We are approaching that point, which is why we need all Pennsylvanians to follow these measures as part of their collective responsibility to protect one another and the health system.”

State health officials said every county in the state has a concerning percent positivity above 5%, including nine counties (Mifflin, Potter, Bedford, Montour, Juniata, Somerset, Tioga, Franklin and Lawrence) with percent positivity at or above 20%.

Hospitalizations continue to rise in the state, with 5,421 currently hospitalized for the virus. Of those, 1,115 are in the ICU and 614 are on a ventilator.

According to the state, there are only 17% of adult hospital beds open in Pennsylvania, with 16% of the ICU beds free. That’s in contrast to the beginning of November when 22% of hospital beds were open and 24% of ICU beds.

“This week’s data, and the continued strain covid-19 is placing on the rate of hospitalizations and ventilator use is a reminder to us all of our role in protecting our health care systems,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “Models continue to indicate very concerning trends for our hospital availability and ICU bed availability, even as we see some counties with very little capacity left.”

State officials continue to point out that most of the patients hospitalized are ages 65 or older and that most of the deaths have occurred in those patients as well.

In 1,341 of the state’s nursing and personal care homes, there have been 40,011 resident cases and 7,322 cases among employees.

To date, 2,943,283 Pennsylvanians have tested negative for the virus, with 394,455 cases confirmed from PCR tests.