More than 12,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in Pennsylvania over the weekend, the state Department of Health said Monday.
The health department said there were 12,686 additional positive cases of COVID-19 over Saturday and Sunday, raising the statewide total to 1,382,933. The department doesn’t typically update new cases over the weekend, so the state’s latest report is the first since Friday and covers two days of data.
Statewide, 2,386 people are being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals, including 602 patients in intensive care beds. The number of hospitalizations has surged since July, when about 250 people with COVID-19 were in hospital beds.
State officials have said the vast majority of hospitalizations are among those who aren’t fully vaccinated. From Jan. 1 through early September, only 5% of those treated in hospitals for COVID-19 were fully vaccinated. Hospital systems serving central Pennsylvania said the vast majority of their patients have not been vaccinated.
Over the weekend, the health department said there were 52 new deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry. Since the pandemic began, 28,864 deaths in Pennsylvania have been tied to COVID-19. From January through early September, 97% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have involved those who were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated, according to the health department.
Doctors continue to stress the importance of the COVID-19 vaccines to get the best protection from serious illness. As of Sunday, 67.8% of Pennsylvania residents age 18 and older are fully vaccinated, the health department said.
Statewide, the positive test rate for COVID-19 was 8.9% during the week of Sept. 10-16, down slightly from 9.1% the previous week. The positive test rate had been rising steadily for several weeks.
Every county in Pennsylvania continues to show high transmission of the coronavirus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most of those who test positive for COVID-19 deal with relatively minor symptoms and some don’t even get sick. But doctors and health officials say the virus poses risks to everyone, particularly seniors and those with health complications.
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