Berks’ COVID update: 142 more cases



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About 1 in 4 recent COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations were among those considered fully immunized, according to statistics provided by the state Department of Health.

But, the state also says vaccination remains the best way to avoid COVID and hospitalizations.

“From a clinical standpoint, we expect to see the number of breakthrough cases increase as more people get vaccinated,” said interim general practitioner Dr. Denise Johnson. “This means that fully vaccinated people are more than three times more likely to stay out of hospital due to COVID-19. Another way to look at it: if you play the lottery and could do something to triple your chances of hitting the jackpot, would you? “

Statistics for breakthrough cases, hospitalizations and deaths were presented on September 7 by the health ministry and the last update on Friday afternoon contained numbers for the next four weeks, ending Monday.

The statistical period begins on January 1, a few weeks after the start of the vaccination process.

On September 7, health officials presented figures showing that only 6% of cases, 5% of hospitalizations and 3% of deaths were breakthrough cases since January 1.

The recent four-week increase on Monday showed those numbers to rise to 9%, 7% and 7% respectively, due to the most recent 30-day hike.

The department’s COVID press secretary Barry O’Neill noted that there have been periods since January 1 that have seen high numbers similar to those of the four weeks ending Monday, and that recent results do not are not single digit jumps.

His emailed statement: “As Dr Johnson noted, increases occurred from more people being eligible for the vaccine in late April until the time the delta variant took hold.

“For example, a quick glance at revolutionary cases and hospitalizations from April 25 to August 29 showed that 23% of cases, 25% of hospitalizations were in people who had been vaccinated.

Comparing these numbers to the most recent 30-day period – 26% and 26% – is not substantial. “

The term fully vaccinated is applied at all levels by medical authorities to refer to anyone more than two weeks after the final dose of vaccine. Anything below that is not fully vaccinated.

It is not known if the state knows how much time has passed after the inoculation is completed in breakthrough cases. Much has been said about the declining efficacy of vaccines, especially the Pfizer product.

Weekly comparison

The state’s early warning watch dashboard showed Berks County had 1,015 cases for the week ending Thursday, eight fewer than the week ending September 30, a rate of 191.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and a positivity rate of 10.4%.

However, this statistical week did not include the Delta’s second-highest daily case total of 173 on Friday, although it did include the Delta’s high of 191 on Thursday.

Statistics from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the same period are 1,036 cases with a rate of less than 246 cases per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 9.8%.

The early warning dashboard showed that Pennsylvania had reached the highest level of the delta rise overall with nearly 35,000 cases for the week ending Thursday, or more than 1,268, with a case rate of 215.5 per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 9.6%.

The entire state remained in the high transmission metric. A sparsely populated county, Sullivan, fell to a substantial level for a few days, but on Saturday it was “high” again.

The high transmission metric starts at 100 cases per 100,000 population in CDC data.

The differences between CDC and state data were at times significant over the months and neither agency had an explanation for this.

Daily statistics

Berks added 142 COVID cases in the health department’s dashboard update on Saturday.

For Berks, the total pandemic cases rose to 55,997. A delta record of 191 was reported on Thursday with a second-highest delta of 173 on Friday.

Each new case is a new person who tests positive. Averages smooth out uneven communication of test results.

Each day’s report is a composite of the previous day, in this case Friday.

In hospitalizations, the state’s dashboard update on Saturday showed Berks in 74 patients including 17 in intensive care units at Reading Hospital or Penn State Health St. Joseph.

The 17 patients in the ICU are a delta record. The delta record for the total number of patients is 87.

Pennsylvania Statistics

Overall, the string of high cases in Pennsylvania continued on Saturday with a top five-day delta of 5,610 new cases.

That followed 5,583 on Friday after a delta record of 5,819 reported on Thursday.

The total number of pandemic cases exceeded 1.47 million and was close to 1.48 million.

Berks had 2.5% of the state’s cases. With 429,000 residents, the county has 3.3% of the state’s population.

The United States as a whole is down sharply since Sept. 1 in cases, but Pennsylvania is not.

The latest statistics from the CDC showed the seven-day average U.S. cases to be 93,605, up from a delta peak of 161,498 on September 1.

Hospitalizations for COVID in Pennsylvania were almost flat, down from one to 2,929 with six fewer in intensive care to 674.

A delta record of 3,001 patients was reported Thursday.

There has been no update to the dashboard for deaths and vaccinations.

CDC Statistics

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has listed 227,712 Berks residents as fully vaccinated, an increase of more than 500.

The CDC presents a more complete picture of inoculations.

This is because the CDC also counts those vaccinated at Veterans Affairs sites, and the initial vaccination effort in nursing homes was under direct federal supervision.

COVID in Berks

New cases: 142

Pandemic total: 55,855

Deaths: State, 1,103; coroner, 1,050

Fully vaccinated: 227,166

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