COVID-19 Metrics Plummet In PA: Latest Statistics

PENNSYLVANIA — Despite the autumn chill that has been historically associated with sharp increases in coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania and around the nation, the state saw a notable decrease in the virus over the past week, according to federal and state statistics.

The state now has just four counties in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "high" level of transmission, in which masks are recommended in indoor, public places. That's continued a precipitious drop over the past several weeks, going from 14 counties two weeks ago, to six last week, and now all the way down to three.

The bulk of the state's counties are now in the "low" level of transmission, as shown in the green on the map below.

The CDC adopted the community-level metric — a metric based on hospitalizations and case rates — in late February. The agency updates its color-coded COVID maps each Thursday, recommending masks in counties with "high" community levels.

The high counties are Susquehanna, Bradford, Carbon, and Mifflin.

The CDC's mask recommendations do not trigger any mandates in Pennsylvania.

Latest COVID-19 data in Pennsylvania

The state's numbers remain very low compared to this point last year and most of 2022. They've also plummeted over the past weekn despite the cooler weather and schools returning to session.

While cases and similar metrics have dropped, healthcare metrics saw a slight increase over last week, reflecting that while overall case rates go down, sensitive populations are still getting very ill from the disease.

Here's a glance at where the numbers stand, as compared to last week:

• Total cases: 10,694, a decrease of 2,383 from last week
• Incidence rate: 85.6, down from 104 last week
• Positivity rate: 13 percent, down from 14.2 percent last week
• Average daily hospitalizations: up to 1,170 from 1,156
• Average daily number of people on ventilators: up to 59.3, from 53.3
• Percent of emergency room visits due to coronavirus symptoms: up to 1.1 percent, from 1.0 percent last week

Here's more COVID news that could impact you.

• The World Health Organization warned Sept. 22 that it's struggling to identify and track new variants as governments roll back testing and surveillance. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of an "ever-present risk of more dangerous variants occurring, CNBC reports.
• Three weeks into the rollout of the updated COVID vaccines, only 1.5 percent of eligible Americans received a bivalent booster, per NBC News