COVID-19 in PA: Case Increases Near 40,100; Percent Positivity at 12.7% and All 67 Counties with Substantial Transmission

Levine-maskHARRISBURG, Pa. – Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine have released a weekly status update detailing the state’s mitigation efforts based on the COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System dashboard, highlighting a seven-day case increase of 40,088, a statewide percent positivity of 12.7% and all 67 counties with substantial transmission status.

The update includes the following:

– Level of community transmission as a basis for the recommendations for Pre-K to 12 schools to determine instructional models.
– Data on cases among 5-18-year-olds.
– Cases that reported visiting a business among potential locations where exposures may have occurred.
– Updated travel recommendations.

The dashboard is designed to provide early warning signs of factors that affect the state’s mitigation efforts. The data available on the Early Warning Monitoring dashboard includes week-over-week case differences, incidence rates, test percent-positivity, and rates of hospitalizations, ventilations and emergency room visits tied to COVID-19. This week’s update compares the period of January 8 – January 14 to the previous seven days, January 1 – January 7.

“We continue to see great progress on bringing our statewide percent positivity rate down and I think that is due to Pennsylvanians continued commitment to wear a mask, avoid gatherings, wash their hands and practice social distancing,” Gov. Wolf said. “I believe we can continue these best public health practices to continue to bring the transmission of COVID-19 down in our communities and keep each other safe as we continue the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.”

As of Thursday, January 14, the state has seen a seven-day case increase of 40,088 cases; the previous seven-day increase was 43,921 cases, indicating 3,833 fewer new cases across the state over the past week compared to the previous week.

The statewide percent-positivity went down to 12.7% from 14.4% last week. Every county in the state has a concerning percent positivity above 5 percent. This includes four counties with percent positivity at or above 20 percent, a decrease of 10 counties from the week before.

“As we continue to experience widespread community transmission of COVID-19, we continue our efforts to complete a case investigation with those who are diagnosed with COVID-19 to collect where they went and who they came in contact with while infectious,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “We thank those who have participated in their case investigation and we continue to urge Pennsylvania to stay calm, stay alert, and stay safe by wearing a mask, avoiding gatherings, practicing social distancing, answering the call when public health professionals call, and downloading the COVID Alert PA app.”

More details can be found here.


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