As a result of the Pa. Department of Health’s continued work to reconcile data from various sources, the state reported an increase of 310 new deaths Thursday, bringing the statewide total to 3,416 deaths in Pennsylvania. These deaths have occurred over the past several weeks.
Pennsylvania added 1,070 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, breaking the four-day streak of new cases being under the count of 1,000. According to information released on Pa. Department of Health’s website, there are currently 52,915 confirmed cases.
Dauphin County reported 24 new positive cases and four deaths, while three new positive tests were added in Schuylkill County and one new case was added in Northumberland County. This brings Dauphin’s total to 735 cases with 33 deaths, Schuylkill up to 422 cases with 10 deaths, and Northumberland County at 112 confirmed cases.
In comparison, Philadelphia County, the hot spot of the state, added 264 cases in 24 hours, putting their totals at 14,006 positive cases and 698 deaths, adding 73 more deaths..
In nursing home and long-term care facilities, the numbers of the local counties went up as Dauphin County added seven residents, one employee, and one death, while Schuylkill County added a new facility and two employees. Dauphin County is listed in the table having three facilities affected, with 150 cases among residents, 31 cases among employees and 22 deaths. Schuylkill County has 37 residents, 11 employees affected and one death in eight facilities.
All total, 514 facilities are reporting 10,506 cases among residents and 1,489 among employees, and have accounted for 2,355 of Pennsylvania’s 3,416 deaths attributed to the coronavirus.
On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the creation of the Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps, a public service initiative that will support efforts this fall to increase testing and contact tracing and provide critical new job opportunities in the public health sector.
“Our highest priority remains protecting public health and safety, but we must also look ahead to see how we can address future needs. To reopen our economy to its maximum potential, we will need to boost our ability to contain this highly transmissible virus,” Governor Wolf said. “The Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps will serve as a public service program that will expand our ability to conduct contact tracing and testing and mobilize Pennsylvanians to contain COVID-19.”
The Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps will also provide for a unique opportunity for Pennsylvania to recruit and train COVID-19-impacted dislocated and unemployed workers into public service for contact tracing roles, which would address Pennsylvania’s health and economic needs.
Officials say that the public’s effort on social distancing and wearing masks must continue to get things back to normal.
“As we prepare to move a number of counties from red to yellow, we need all Pennsylvanians to continue to follow the social distancing and mitigation efforts in place,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “We must continue to protect our most vulnerable Pennsylvanians, which includes our seniors, those with underlying health issues, our healthcare workers and our first responders. I am proud of the work that Pennsylvanians have done so far, but we cannot stop now, we must continue to take the necessary steps to protect ourselves from COVID-19.”
As far as negative tests for each county, Dauphin is listed as having 4,317 negative tests while Schuylkill reported 2.404 negative tests and 745 in Northumberland County.
The state also updated numbers of age ranges of the positive cases and hospitalizations to date. Currently 2,428 Pennsylvania residents are hospitalized with the virus and its complications, down 125 patients from the day before
The breakdown is as follows:
Positive cases
Ages 0-4, <1%; 5-12, <1%; 13-18, 1%; 19-24, 6%; 25-49, 37%; 50-64, 26%, 65+, 27%
Hospitalizations
Ages 0-29, 2%; 30-49, 5%; 50-64, 10%; 65-79, 20%; 80+, 19%
The counties affected and the number of confirmed cases, with the number of deaths in parentheses, are:
Adams-151 (5), Allegheny-1,439 (117), Armstrong-55 (3), Beaver-472 (78), Bedford-27 (1), Berks-3,095 (168), Blair-28, Bradford-36 (2), Bucks-3,613 (320), Butler-190 (6), Cambria-37 (1), Cameron-2 Carbon-189 (16), Centre-116 (1), Chester-1,673 (167), Clarion-23 (1), Clearfield-22, Clinton-35, Columbia-306 (21), Crawford-20, Cumberland-403 (31), Dauphin-735 (33), Delaware-4,497 (376), Elk-5 (1), Erie-101 (2), Fayette-84 (4), Forest-7, Franklin-425 (11), Fulton-7, Greene-27 (1), Huntingdon-109, Indiana-75 (5), Jefferson-7, Juniata-92 (1), Lackawanna-1,093 (112), Lancaster-2,070 (161), Lawrence-69 (7), Lebanon-785 (16), Lehigh-3,102 (111), Luzerne-2,332 (114), Lycoming-99 (4), McKean-6 (1), Mercer-70 (1), Mifflin-48, Monroe-1,194 (63), Montgomery-4,915 (506), Montour-50, Northampton-2,355 (152), Northumberland-112, Perry-34 (1), Philadelphia-14,006 (698), Pike-419 (19), Potter-4, Schuylkill-422 (10), Snyder-33 (1), Somerset-32 (1), Sullivan-1, Susquehanna-86 (11), Tioga-16 (1), Union-40 (1), Venango-7, Warren-1, Washington-120 (4), Wayne-113 (5), Westmoreland-411 (29), Wyoming-27 (2), York-740 (13).
As of noon May 7, there have been 209,873 negative tests for the coronavirus, an increase of 5,378 over the day before.
What is coronavirus?
According to the Pa. Department of Health, coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common throughout the world. These viruses can live in animals and at times, evolve and infect people before spreading through human to human contact.
Human coronaviruses are spread just like the common cold or the flu — either through the air through coughing or sneezing, through close personal contact like touching or shaking hands, or by touching an object or surface with the virus on it.
Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. The symptoms can appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days after a person is exposed to the illness. Reported illnesses have ranged from people with little to no symptoms to severe illness and death. As of May 6, the U.S. Center for Disease Control reports there have been 1,193,813 cases of the Coronavirus reported in the U.S. with 70,802 deaths.
What can you do?
Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
Cover any coughs or sneezes with your elbow, not your hands.
Clean surfaces frequently.
Stay home to avoid spreading COVID-19, especially if you are unwell.
If you must go out for a life-sustaining reason, please wear a mask.
The Pa. Department of Health offers these guidelines as the COVID-19 crisis continues.
Stay home as much as possible. Try to get groceries once per week instead of daily. Freedom of travel remains, but please refrain from non-essential travel. Essential travel includes things like commuting to an essential job, picking up supplies like groceries and medicine, and checking on family and pets in other households. Do not host or attend gatherings.