Delco Coronavirus Hospitalizations Spike, Ventilator Use Rises

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Coronavirus specific hospitalizations have spiked over the past week, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The state's dashboard that measures six key metrics on the coronavirus by county show three of the six metrics have increased, while the other three have seen slight drops.

As of Nov. 27, 143.7 people are hospitalized in Delaware County with the coronavirus. That is up from 92.3 the week before.

More patients are on ventilators now, as well. The state reports 17.3 patients are using ventilators, an increase from 9 the previous week.

And lastly, the percent of patients showing up to hospitals increased slightly. The week ending Nov. 27 had a 2.2 percent rate, up slightly from 1.9.

The number of new cases decreased, with 1,603 reported Nov. 27 and 1,759 reported the week before.

Delaware County's incidence rate per 100,000 people has dropped slightly, going down from 311.5 to 283.8.

And the testing positivity rate saw a slight decrease, dropping from 10.8 percent to 10.4 percent.

Delaware is one of 47 counties in Pennsylvania that are in red zone when it comes to the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

Red zones have more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result of above 10 percent.