COVID Cases Up 8 Percent, Deaths Up 11 Percent In PA: Latest Numbers

PENNSYLVANIA — Coronavirus cases saw an increase over the past two weeks in Pennsylvania as fall officially arrived and children headed back into schools in-person.

The increases come after weeks of steady decreases in overall case counts and most related metrics. Cases have gone up 8 percent over the past week, and deaths have similarly increased 11 percent, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, the total number of counties under the CDC's "high" category of infections has dropped from 14 counties to 6 counties, indicating that the counties with the highest levels last week are largely not responsible for this week's increases.

The CDC recommends masking in counties with "high" COVID-19 community levels — a metric based on hospitalizations and case rates that the agency adopted in late February. The agency updates its color-coded COVID-19 maps each Thursday.

COVID-19 Metrics in Pennsylvania

Even with the increase in cases and deaths over the past two weeks, the state's numbers remain very low compared to this point last year and most of 2022.

The daily average currently sits at 2,615 cases, while the positivity rate is at 13 percent, according to federal statistics. There has been a daily average of 18 deaths over the past two weeks, even as the overall total of hospitalized individuals has fallen by 4 percent, to 1,587.

Bivalent boosters arrive, state ready and confident for potential fall surge

For two years in a row now, Pennsylvania has seen a devastating spike in cases that has overwhlemed the state's healthcare systems with the colder weather.

The fall surge in 2020 began in October and November and saw case loads increase expotentially into Jan. 2021, peaking with a daily rate over 10,000. A year later, increases started at around the same time, with the new omicron variant tripling 2020's highest daily case load to over 30,000 by Jan. 2022.

Heading into the 2022-23 winter, officials are ready. A new targeted booster shot designed to combat the omicron subvariant of coronavirus was approved by federal officials two weeks ago. Up until now, booster doses of the vaccine have targeted the original strain of COVID-19. The new booster dose will tweak the existing vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to take aim at the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, both of which are dominant in the United States.

Vaccines started arriving in Pennsylvania shortly after Labor Day, the Department of Health said.

"The updated COVID-19 booster shots will help restore protection that may have waned since previous vaccinations and provide added protection against the Omicron variant, including the highly transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 strains," Acting Health Secretary and Pennsylvania Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson said in a statement.

If you scheduled a booster appointment before the bivalent shot became available, you should reschedule your appointment and ask for the updated shot, officials said.

"The original vaccines are no longer authorized for use as boosters for people 12 years of age and older," the Department of Health added. "Those vaccines, however, are still to be used for those beginning or finishing the primary series."