Cases of the coronavirus in Pennsylvania long-term care facilities surpassed 20,000 Monday, while hospitalizations in the Lehigh Valley region have declined, the state Health Department said.
There have been 20,011 cases in long-term care facilities, which have been hard-hit since the pandemic reached Pennsylvania in March.
Nearly 68% of the state’s 7,317 virus deaths have been associated with the facilities. And while long-term care residents make up only 1.2% of state residents, they represent about 17% of the state’s COVID-19 infections, according to the data.
Among the long-term care cases, 2,055 have been in the Lehigh Valley: 1,114 in Lehigh County and 941 in Northampton County.
Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized for the coronavirus in Pennsylvania as of Monday morning was 591, the lowest figure in several days.
Data on the state website also shows the number of people hospitalized in an eight-county region centered on the Lehigh Valley — Lehigh and Northampton counties, as well as Monroe, Carbon, Schuylkill, Berks, Bucks and Montgomery counties — is lower Monday than it has been in the last several days.
The number hospitalized in that region is 88. On Sunday around midday it was 91, and last Wednesday in the middle of the day it was 130.
The state added 601 cases Monday, bringing the total since the pandemic started to 119,453.
Friday afternoon, the Wolf administration — following a weekly update of its early warning data dashboard — said 17 counties had “concerning” positive-test rates for the virus and would bear watching.
None of the eight counties in the Lehigh Valley region were on the list. It included Union, Indiana, Fayette, Fulton, Huntingdon, Erie, Mercer, Lawrence, Northumberland, York, Clearfield, Luzerne, Juniata, Lancaster, Beaver, Delaware and Mifflin.
The counties that added the largest number of coronavirus cases to their totals Monday are Allegheny, 75; Philadelphia, 64; Lancaster, 52; Delaware, 48; Dauphin, 28; and Montgomery, 28.
Eighteen other counties had no new cases Monday. Sullivan has not had a new case in 37 days
Three more deaths have been reported statewide, bringing the total to 7,317. None of the three were in the Lehigh Valley.
During the pandemic, Lehigh County has had 337 deaths and Northampton County has had 292, state data shows.
Morning Call reporter Eugene Tauber contributed to this story. Morning Call Capitol correspondent Ford Turner can be reached at fturner@mcall.com
