Pennsylvania surpasses 120K cases of covid-19

The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced 828 new covid-19 cases on Tuesday, making a solid two weeks in which daily cases were below the 1,000 mark.

With its latest tally of cases, Pennsylvania’s total of covid-19 cases stands at 120,281.

For the second time in the past week, the state posted more than 30 new deaths from coronavirus, adding 35 fatalities. The death toll now stands at 7,352.

Not all of the 35 new deaths happened in the past 24 hours. According to the state’s covid-19 data tracker, one of them occurred on May 10, with six happening on July 31 and five each on Aug. 5, 6 and 7.

New deaths were posted in 19 counties, with Allegheny County seeing the most (seven) added. However, the state currently lists 254 deaths in Allegheny County, while the county’s own health department lists 260 deaths, a discrepancy that’s been credited to different reporting methods between the county and the state.

Other counties that saw more than one death added were Philadelphia (six), Lancaster (three) and Delaware, Erie and Mercer with two each. Clearfield County reported its first covid-19 related death.

Of those testing positive, the majority (38%) are among ages 25-49, followed by ages 65 and over (24%), ages 50-64 (nearly 23%) and ages 19-24 (10%).

There are 591 people currently hospitalized for covid-19 in Pennsylvania, according to the state’s covid-19 dashboard — 108 of them are on ventilators.

Among new cases, Philadelphia saw the most with 168 new cases, followed by Allegheny (76), Delaware (73), Fayette (61) and York (46). Nineteen counties reported no new covid-19 cases.

Fayette County’s 61 new cases was somewhat alarming, given that the county’s average daily increases have been in the single digits for most of the pandemic. Tuesday’s high volume of new cases — a high mark for the county — represented more than a 12% increase from Monday. On Aug. 6, Fayette added 34 new cases.

The recent increase has drawn the attention of officials at the health department.

“Statewide there were no delays in reporting or data dumps to contribute to the rise in cases (in Fayette),” said Maggi Mumma, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health. “There also were no long-term care facility cases that made up this increase.”

Mumma said the state will continue to monitor increases like that one. “Even small case increases are concerning and are being watched very carefully,” she said.

The state has seen 1,375,594 individuals tested for covid-19, with 1,255,313 returning negative for an 8.74% overall positivity rate.

The state said there have been 20,086 cases of covid-19 among residents of nursing and personal care homes, with 4,166 cases among employees — all in 883 distinct facilities in 61 counties.