The number of coronavirus cases has surpassed 40,000 in Pennsylvania, with more than 1,500 deaths, according to figures released Saturday by state health officials.
The Lehigh Valley has almost 11 percent, 4,331 positive cases, out of the state’s 40,049 total.
Out of those cases, 2,746 are patients are currently hospitalized and of those, 662 are on ventilators, Sec. of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said during Saturday’s briefing.
The state saw 45 new deaths since Friday, and the death toll is at 1,537 people. Earlier this week, the Department of Health removed 201 probable cases from the total deaths; the state is only reporting confirmed COVID-19 deaths.
The region’s death toll is at 99 people -- Lehigh County added one more death and is now at 50 people, and Northampton County had three more people die and is at 49 total.
Philadelphia, which has the highest death toll in the state at 272 people recorded no new deaths from Friday to Saturday.
Residents at long-term care facilities represent a majority of the deaths, Levine said.
Of the total number of positive cases, 7,326 are from 425 nursing homes/personal care facilities in 40 counties. The death toll percentage is higher: almost 62 percent, 942 people, have been residents from long-term care facilities.
Reopening areas of the state following the current shutdown was a constant theme of questions during Saturday’s briefing.
On Saturday, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration said a target goal for reopening will be fewer than 50 new confirmed coronavirus cases per 100,000 people reported to the department in the previous 14 days.
The state used the example of an area with 800,000 people would need fewer than 400 new confirmed cases reported in the previous two weeks to meet the target.
That data will not be the only consideration. Other factors include:
- Enough testing for symptomatic people and target populations including health care personnel and first responders.
- “Robust” case investigation and contact tracing infrastructure in place to identify cluster outbreaks and issue isolation and quarantine orders.
- Focus on high-risk settings including prisons and jails, personal care homes, skilled nursing facilities and other congregate care settings, and safeguards in place such as staff training, employee screening, visitor screenings and adequate supplies of PPE to support continued operations.
Levine said the state “certainly will need to increase our testing resources,” and there will be target testing in areas that will move from red to yellow under Wolf’s designation.
The goal is to be able to test mildly symptomatic residents in order to prevent an outbreak, she said.
Shortages of testing materials has been a problem. The state testing lab this week received a significant amount of supplies, but now the state is low in traditional surgical masks, gowns and gloves, she said.
“We need to watch the supply chain really carefully,” Levine said.
Other factors for reopening include hospital surge capacity and hospital bed availability, as well as positive case ratios and the number of cases in each county.
“We’re going to take many things into consideration,” she said.
While it’s still chilly in Pennsylvania, Levine was asked about the summer, and what things like pools, parks and summer camps may look like, or if they will reopen.
“It’s much too soon to determine what things will look like in the summer,” she said, repeating the often used phrase, “The virus determines the timeline. We don’t determine the timeline.”
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Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.
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