PA COVID Metrics Dropping: Latest Numbers, Mask Recommendations

PENNSYLVANIA— Federal health officials have shifted Pennsylvania's mask guidance once again. As of Thursday, the CDC recommends that people in several Pennsylvania counties with high COVID-19 levels wear face coverings for indoor, public spaces.

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. One week after Pennsylvania had 14 counties in the high category, just 12 remained there on Thursday's map.

Westmoreland, Allegheny, Northumberland, and Beaver counties moved from the "high" to the "medium" level on this week's map.

Counties currently in the high category include Bradford, McKean, Elk, Mercer, Butler, Cambria, Somerset, Fayette, Greene, Washington, Mifflin, and Juniata.

Where COVID Stands In Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's coronavirus numbers continue to improve overall, according to the state's early warning monitoring dashboard.

• Total confirmed cases: dropped from 16,041 to 14,133
• Incidence rate: dropped from 125 to 110
• Positivity rate: dropped from 16.9 percent to 16.4 percent
• Average daily number of hospitalizations: dropped from 1,273 to 1,259

The state is continuing its vaccination outreach efforts across the state, and is specifically urging parents to vaccinate children before they head back to school this fall.

“As children complete their routine vaccinations and head back to the classroom this fall, I strongly encourage students to get fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 even if they have already had COVID-19,” Acting Secretary of Health and Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson said in a statement. “Vaccinations have proven to be effective to prevent severe disease – and there is a safe vaccine available now to best protect our youngest learners from contracting COVID-19.”

While COVID-19 vaccinations are not required for students, the state is still providing support to school districts in hosting clinics. In Allegheny County, the Pittsburgh Public School District is working alongside UPMC to host upcoming public clinics.

What Else You Should Know

Here's more COVID news that could impact you.

• President Joe Biden's administration will stop covering costs for COVID vaccines, treatments and tests as early as this fall. The action will likely bring out-of-pocket costs to people without health insurance. But Medicaid and most private health insurance plans will need to continue covering certain costs for a period of time.
• The Food and Drug Administration plans to authorize updated versions of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID boosters around Labor Day, sources told NBC News. The new shots target the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants — the latter of which accounts of nearly 90 percent of all new COVID cases in the U.S., according to the CDC.
• Around 16 million working-age Americans (ages 18-65) have long COVID, including 2 to 4 million who are out of work because of long COVID, according to research from the Brookings Institution.

With reporting from Patch correspondent Josh Bakan