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The rates of coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania are rising steadily this week after weeks of declining rates.
The state Department of Health reported 425 new cases on Thursday and another 415 on Friday, bringing the seven-day moving average of new infections to 285 per day, a 54% jump from two weeks ago.
The moving average has risen over the past week, after hitting an all-time low of 173 new cases per day on July 9. There have been 1.22 million infections statewide and 27,786 deaths to date.
New coronavirus infections are on the rise in all states, less than a month after the rate of new cases in the country hit a low of around 11,000 per day. The United States now averages about 28,000 new cases per day.
With the highly contagious Delta variant spreading rapidly, cases in the United States have increased by about 70% over the past week, hospital admissions have increased by about 36%, and deaths have increased by 26% the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
While cases, hospitalizations and deaths still remain well below last winter’s peak, Delta is fueling an increase in cases in all 50 states for the first time since the holiday spike. And the country’s vaccination campaign has slowed at a breakneck pace, with only about 48% of the population fully protected.
CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky warned the outbreak in the United States was becoming “an unvaccinated pandemic” as nearly all hospital admissions and deaths were in people who had not been immunized . She again urged Americans to get vaccinated on Friday.
About 160 million Americans, including 6.5 million Pennsylvanians, are fully immunized. So far, the data indicates that being fully vaccinated offers good protection against Delta and that vaccines still prevent serious outcomes, like hospitalization and death. However, having only one injection of a two-dose vaccine is much less effective against this new variant than against previous iterations of the virus.
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While Pennsylvania’s leap in new cases reflects national trends, it is not ravaged like other parts of the country. It is ranked as having the fifth-lowest per capita case rate in the past week, behind Vermont, South Dakota, Michigan and New Hampshire, according to the latest CDC monitoring. Arkansas, Missouri, and Florida lead the nation.
Springfield, Missouri, is so overwhelmed that public health officials pleaded with the state this week to transform a dormitory, hotel, or other large space for the care of less seriously ill COVID-19 patients so that the two hospitals in the city can concentrate on the sickest.
The number of hospitalized Pennsylvania continues to decline with 254 patients per day hospitalized statewide over the past week, a record high, according to state data.
Almost 77% of adults in Pennsylvania have received at least one dose and nearly 62% are fully immunized, according to the CDC. About 64% of the total population have at least one vaccine, while 51.1% are fully vaccinated.
In the Lehigh Valley, 58% of residents have at least one stroke. This breaks down into 357,791 fully vaccinated people and 33,197 people waiting for their second injection.
The country has recorded an average of around 334,000 per day over the past week, continuing a steep decline in the US vaccination campaign. An average of nearly 22,000 Pennsylvania receives shots each day, a marked drop from the mid-April peak of 180,000 shots a day, according to CDC data.
Lehigh Valley has reported 134 new cases in the past seven days and two deaths, bringing the cumulative total for Lehigh and Northampton counties to 75,965 infections and 1,582 lives lost.
The statewide test positivity rate for the past week stood at 1.4%, well below the World Health Organization’s 5% threshold for recommended mitigation measures .
All Pennsylvanians aged 12 and over are eligible to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine. Use Vaccine Finder to find a COVID-19 vaccine supplier near you.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sara K. Satullo can be reached at [email protected].
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