Pa coronavirus update: status exceeds 108K cases with 839 new positives; 14 Pa counties with ‘concerned’ case rates; ongoing vaccine tests | Pa. COVID-19 county case map (07/27/20)

Coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania increased by more than 800 for the fifth consecutive day, the first time it has occurred since early May.

The 839 new positives reported Monday put the state’s case count at 108,264, according to the daily update from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Four more deaths were reported, those reports were generally delayed over the weekend, and the COVID-19 death toll in Pa is now 7,122.

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Meanwhile, the health department identified 14 counties with “troubling” increases in their weekly positivity rate: the Lehigh Valley and surrounding counties saw increases in the rate, but are not yet considered problematic.

And, the world’s largest coronavirus vaccine study is underway on 30,000 volunteers.

Your Pennsylvania coronavirus updates for July 27, 2020.

Pa. Coronavirus outbreak

Pennsylvania’s seven-day case average continues to rise and is now where it was in mid-spring. The average of 932 cases per day for the past week is the highest in the state since May 15, when about half the state was still in the red phase.

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Once again, Pennsylvania’s largest cities led the state in daily cases on Monday. Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County had 180 new cases; Philadelphia was 166. State reports for Philadelphia lag far behind city data.

Young people represent an increasing proportion of cases across the state. In the northeast region, which includes the Lehigh Valley, people ages 19-24 accounted for almost 17% of cases in July, compared to 6% of cases in April, according to the health department.

The state estimates that approximately 75% of Pennsylvania coronavirus patients have recovered. However, people over 65 still account for the majority of hospitalizations and deaths. Nursing home residents account for about 18% of the state’s cases, but 68% of deaths.

To date, 7,974 health workers have hired COVID-19.

Reports of coronavirus deaths are generally delayed over the weekend. Of the four reported Monday, one was in Philadelphia, one in the Chester County suburb, one just north of the Lehigh Valley in Monroe County. The room was in Central Pa. York County.

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14 Pa counties with ‘troubling’ increases

On Friday, data from the health department showed that the statewide weekly test positivity rate had risen to 4.7%, up from 4.4% the previous week.

In a press release, the department identified 14 counties with “troubling” positivity rates and said each of them “supports the observation.” Neither the Lehigh Valley nor the adjacent counties are listed, but Philadelphia and some of its suburbs are.

The positivity rate is the number of confirmed positive tests divided by the total number of people evaluated.

The counties and their positivity rates from last week are:

• Beaver (8.7%)
• Armstrong (8.6%)
• Franklin (7.7%)
• Mercer (7.6%)
• Allegheny (6.6%)
• Lawrence (6.2%)
• Chester (6.0%)
• Philadelphia (5.6%)
• Fayette (5.4%)
• York (5.4%)
• Dauphin (5.3%)
• Delaware (5.3%)
• Bedford (5.1%)
• Greene (5.1%)

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Coronavirus in the Lehigh Valley

The Lehigh Valley now totals 8,461 coronavirus cases and 624 deaths, an increase of 27 new cases since Sunday, according to state figures on Monday. That breaks down into:

• 4,703 cases and 335 deaths in Lehigh County, an increase of 15 cases.
• 3,758 cases and 289 deaths in Northampton County, an increase of 12 cases.

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Unlike the 14 “concern” counties listed by the health department, the positivity rate in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding counties remains less than 5%, though only in some, according to the Pennsylvania early warning system. , which is updated every Friday. However, all counties in the area saw their rates increase.

The Lehigh County rate increased just 3.1% last week, one tenth more than the previous week. Northampton County rose two tenths of a percentage to 2.8%.

Adjacent counties also saw increases in positivity last week compared to the previous week, some approaching 5%:

• Berks County is 4.6% positive, an increase of half a percent from the previous week.
• Bucks County is at 4.9%, up from 4.2%.
• Carbon County is at 4%, up from 2.5%.
• Monroe County is at 4.1%, up from 2.1%.
• Montgomery County is at 3.8%, an increase of just a tenth from the week before.
• Schuylkill County is at 3.7%, up from 2.2%.

The world’s largest COVID-19 vaccine study underway

The Associated Press reports that the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccine study began Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers who helped test vaccines created by the US government, one of several candidates in the stretch. end of the world vaccine race.

There is still no guarantee that the experimental vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Modern Inc., will actually protect. Moderna said the vaccination was conducted in Savannah, Georgia, the first site to be launched among more than seven dozen test sites scattered across the country.

Volunteers will not know if they are receiving the real opportunity or a fictional version. After two doses, scientists will closely monitor which group experiences more infections as they go about their daily routines, especially in areas where the virus is still spreading uncontrollably.

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The Associated Press and lehighvalleylive.com reporter Sara Satullo contributed to this report.

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Steve Novak can be contacted at [email protected].