Pennsylvania sees fewer daily covid-19 cases, deaths than in recent days

Pennsylvania on Friday reported a slight drop in new coronavirus cases with 9,320 added, the fewest in three days.

Since reporting a record 12,884 new cases two weeks ago, the state has seen just seven days below 10,000 cases. The seven-day average is 9,803 cases, down from a high of 10,579 two days ago.

Of the new cases, 8,552 are confirmed from 26,430 new PCR tests.

The state has seen 538,655 covid cases since March, with 490,362 of those cases confirmed.

Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

The counties reporting the most cases on Friday are Philadelphia (834), Allegheny (827), Montgomery (583), Bucks (540), Lancaster (487), York (483) and Chester (424).

The Department of Health reported 216 new deaths, the fewest in four days. Across the state, 13,608 people have died from coronavirus-related illness.

The state has 6,147 residents in the hospital for covid-19 with 1,232 of those in intensive care units and 745 on ventilators. The state reports the 14-day moving average of number of hospitalized patients per day has increased by nearly 5,300 since the end of September. Most of the hospitalized patients are age 65 or older. There are 5,702 ventilators across the state and a total of 1,981 are in use for all illnesses.

In nursing and personal care homes, the Department of Health reports 46,545 resident cases of covid-19 and 8,514 cases among staff. This a total of 55,059 cases at 1,421 facilities. Of the state’s total deaths, 8,047 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care homes.

There have been 3,118,874 people who tested negative for the virus.