PA COVID Cases As Fall Approaches, New Vaccine Hits: Latest Numbers

PENNSYLVANIA — Coronavirus numbers continue to improve steadily around Pennsylvania in the days following the release of the new COVID-19 booster shot that is aimed specifically at the omicron variant.

The state now has just nine counties in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "high" category, dropping from 12 two weeks ago and 15 a month ago. That does, however, include a few counties, including Centre County, which were in the moderate grouping a week ago.

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.

High counties include Bradford, Mifflin, Philadelphia, Centre, Crawford, Fayette, Greene, Cambria, and Huntingdon.

New vaccine available in Pennsylvania

A new targeted booster shot designed to combat the omicron subvariant of coronavirus was approved by federal officials last week.

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 starting 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.

Vaccine providers are accepting appointments statewide for the new booster.

The updated Moderna booster will be available to people 18 years and older, while the Pfizer booster is authorized for use in those 12 years and older, the FDA said. The updated shots will be open to anyone who already had their primary vaccinations at least two months before receiving the booster dose.

Where Pennsylvania stands

Here's where Pennsylvania's coronavirus numbers stand this week compared to last week, according to the state's early warning monitoring dashboard.

• 12,530 total new cases, a decrease from 14,072
• An incidence rate of 97.9, a decrease from 109.9
• A positivity rate of 16.3 percent, a slight increase from 16.2 percent
• 1,169 average daily hospitalizations, a decrease from 1,261
• 51 average patients on ventilators per day, an increase over 48
• 0.7 percent of all emergency room visits are due to COVID-19, roughly the same as the week before

Federal COVID-19 mitigation guidelines have been relaxed in recent months. Among the alterations: federal health officials are no longer recommending people quarantine following exposure to someone positive for COVID-19. Additionally, they're dropping guidance for people to stay six feet apart.

Instead, the agency is recommending those exposed to someone with COVID-19 wear a mask for 10 days and test for the virus on the fifth day.