Pa. Coronavirus updates: 693 new cases; 20 more dead; 9 counties with ‘regarding’ business trends; PIAA says fall sports may begin Monday, Dad. COVID-19 county case map (21/21/20)

UPDATE: The PIAA has voted to continue with the fall sports season. The post below has been updated. Lehighvalleylive.com has got more about this development story.

Pennsylvania on Friday added 693 new cases of coronavirus with 20 more deaths reported from COVID-19.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest daily report puts the statewide case total at 127,633 with a death toll from COVID-19 of 7,558.

(Can’t see the map? Click here.)

The rate of new cases, both statewide and locally in the Lehigh Valley, continues a downward trend. But there are still nine counties with rates of positive testing that the state considers “concerning.” And the PIAA decided Friday to allow fall sports to continue, the season starting as soon as Monday.

Here are your updates of Pennsylvania coronavirus for August 21, 2020.

Coronavirus in Pa..

Three counties account for a third of Friday’s reported cases: Philadelphia had 82, Allegheny County had 80 and Lancaster County had 65. No other county had more than 50.

The seven-day averages of cases, hospitalizations, deaths and the statewide positivity rate have all dropped from their levels of the week ago.

(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)

Across Pennsylvania, there were 1,142 fewer cases reported this week than last week, 70 fewer hospitalizations and 12 fewer people on ventilators.

The declining trends come as the state prepares for reopening of schools. Masks and social distances are still required in Pennsylvania to contain coronavirus spread.

MORE: COVID-19 tracker with interactive charts

PIAA decision on fake sports

The PIAA decided on Friday that the bankruptcy sports season could begin as soon as Monday, based on local school decisions.

Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Rachel Levine have recommended canceling the fall season until at least January. They say the coronavirus could be spread through the close contact of students with opponents from other regions.

The PIAA had signaled that it could choose to move forward with the season this year. Two Lehigh Valley moms organized the ‘Let Our Kids Play’ rally in Harrisburg on Friday and demanded the return of scholastic sports.

MORE: PIAA approves return of fall sports, rejecting Gov.’s recommendation. Wolf

9 ‘concerning’ counties

Each week, the health department updates its online “early warning control system” and identifies counties with what the state called a “relevant” percentage of positive cases last week, above the World Health Organization’s recommended threshold of 5%. This measurement factors in decisions about reopening of schools.

(The state calculates percentage positivity based on total tests, including duplicates. This method puts Pennsylvania’s percentage positivity at 3.4% in the last week. Another way, used by lehighvalleylive.com and Johns Hopkins University, calculates percentage positivity on based on testing individuals, eliminating duplicate testing – this method shows statewide positivity at 4.7% in the last seven days.)

(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)

This week, nine counties were above 5% positive, by the state’s calculation. They are:

• Perry County (9.1%)
• Huntingdon County (7.8%)
• Northumberland County (7.3%)
• Indiana County (7.1%)
• Union County (5.9%)
• Susquehanna County (5.7%)
• York County (5.5%)
• Beaver County (5.3%)
• Blair County (5%)

Last week, there were 15 counties above the 5% positive, and 17 counties a week ahead.

Low positive rates suggest that testing captures the full spread of the virus in a community. High positivity rates show that only the sickest people are infected, which means that people with little or no symptoms may unknowingly spread the virus.

Coronavirus in the Lehigh Valley

The Lehigh Valley had 22 new cases and no new deaths in Friday’s state report, and officially put the region’s total at 9,161 cases and 638 deaths.

This breaks to:

• 5,112 total cases and 342 deaths in Lehigh County, with nine new cases and no deaths reported in the last day.
• 4,049 total cases and 296 deaths in Northampton County, with 13 new cases and no deaths reported in the last day.

(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)

According to the health department’s early warning dashboard, Lehigh County had 63 confirmed cases in the past week, down from 130 the previous week. The province’s positivity figures (per state calculation) dropped to 1.4% this week, from 4% a week ago. Average daily hospitalizations for COVID-19, as reported by the health department, fell from 19.6 last week to 8.1 this week.

By the same metrics, Northampton County had 52 falls this week, down from 81 the previous week. The province’s positivity figures fell to 1.6% this week, down from 2.7% last week. Many residents are reportedly hospitalized for COVID-19 in Northampton: The average daily hospital admissions went from 1.4 last week to 2.7 this week.

Here’s how Lehigh Valley’s neighboring counties are battling the coronavirus, according to state data on Friday:

• Berks County has 5,743 total cases and 376 deaths, with 38 new cases and no deaths reported in the last day.
• Bucks County has 7,535 total cases and 584 deaths, with 23 new cases and no deaths reported in the last day.
• Carbon County has 411 total cases and 28 deaths, with no new cases or deaths reported in the last day.
• Monroe County has 1,686 total cases and 127 deaths, with seven new cases and two deaths reported in the last day.
• Montgomery County has 10,607 total cases and 861 deaths, with 39 new cases and one death reported in the last day.
• Schuylkill County has 963 total cases and 51 deaths, with one new case and no deaths reported in the last day.

(Can’t see the table? Click here.)

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Steve Novak can be reached at [email protected].