For the second week in a row, every county in Pennsylvania is at substantial risk for community spread, according to an update issued Monday by Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.
The update detailed the state’s mitigation efforts based on the COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard, highlighting a seven-day case increase of 57,098 cases, a statewide percent positivity of 15.8% and all 67 counties with substantial transmission status.
This week’s update compares the period of Dec. 11 to 17 to the previous seven days, Dec. 4 to 10.
Locally, McKean County saw a slight decrease in the percent positivity, from 12.6% last week to a current rate of 12.2%. The other three local counties all saw an increase. Elk County’s rose from 11.6% the prior week to 14.4%; Potter County’s rose from 14% to 19.3%; and Cameron County’s rose from 18.8% to 21.1%.
The statewide percent-positivity went down to 15.82% from 16.2% last week. Every county in the state except for Sullivan County has a concerning percent positivity above five percent, state officials noted. This includes 20 counties with percent positivity at or above 20 percent.
“A decrease in percent positivity this week shows that we must continue to stay the course as we prevent the spread of this virus,” Wolf said. “As we approach a number of holidays, we need to put Pennsylvania on pause and continue to follow the time-limited mitigation efforts announced last week. We need all Pennsylvanians to follow these measures as part of their collective responsibility to protect one another and the health system.”
As of Dec. 17, the state had seen a seven-day case increase of 57,098 cases; the previous seven-day increase was 61,469 cases, indicating 4,371 fewer new cases across the state over the past week compared to the previous week.
“While our case data shows some improvement, the continued strain COVID-19 is placing on the rate of hospitalizations and ventilator use serve as a reminder to us all of our role in protecting our health care system,” Levine said. “We know that hospitalizations and deaths often lag after our case increases. Our hospitals are taxed and many locations have very few ICU beds available. We know COVID-19 does not discriminate and is affecting every county in the commonwealth. This virus knows no bounds and it is affecting all Pennsylvanians, no matter your race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status or whether you live in a rural, suburban or urban area.”
As of Friday’s data, all 67 counties were in the substantial level of community transmission, the highest level of transmission. The departments of Education and Health will speak with school district representatives in these counties to discuss the implications of this level of transmission.
Pennsylvanians should continue to take actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, regardless of what county they live in. This includes wearing a mask or face covering anytime they are in public. COVID-19 has been shown to spread easily in the air and contagious carriers can be asymptomatic. Pennsylvanians are encouraged to wash their hands, social distance, avoid gatherings and download COVID Alert PA.
