New COVID cases fall in Pennsylvania as CDC indicates ‘Kraken’ subvariant now dominant
New reported cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are down slightly in Pennsylvania, even as deaths tick up.
The state recorded 236 new coronavirus deaths for the week of Jan. 18 to 24, an increase from 134 causalities the Pennsylvania Department of Health tallied the week prior.
Since the onset of the pandemic, 49,633 individuals have died from COVID-19 in the commonwealth, part of the more than 1.1 millions Americans who have succumb to the virus.
Cases are down from the previous week, however, with 10,651 reported by the state health agency for the most recent period, a drop of a couple hundred from the previous period and down significantly from just after the holidays.
Those new case figures do not include at-home positive tests and those not reported to health agencies.
Hospitalizations have also fallen in Pennsylvania. The state reports 1,258 people are receiving treatment as of Wednesday, 162 of those in adult intensive care units. Eighty patients are on ventilators.
The state’s trends are largely following the nation’s. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports cases and hospitalizations falling nationally as of Friday.
The federal health agency indicated Friday that a majority of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. at this time (61.3%) are the newest omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, also called the “Kraken” subvariant.
Less than 20% of Pennsylvanians have received the bivalent booster shot to better protect against severe COVID-19 from omicron strains, however.
Just 18.1% of Pennsylvanians got the bivalent COVID shot. These counties have lowest rate
COVID-19 community levels in Pennsylvania
Like last week, just one Pennsylvania county is at a high COVID-19 community level: Pike. CDC data show 72 new cases there in the latest reporting week and a positivity rate of 24.58%.
The community levels are updated by the CDC each Thursday using data on new cases and hospitalizations per 100,000 people (seven-day totals) and the percent of occupied and staffed COVID hospital beds (a seven-day average).
In counties considered high, the CDC recommends all individuals mask in public, indoor places. Those at higher risk for severe illness should also consider masking in counties scored medium.
For the second week in a row, the number of Pennsylvania counties at medium fell, from 30 to 26, while 40 are at low.
COVID-19 in Centre County
Centre County is one of those considered at a low COVID-19 community level as of Friday.
There, the CDC reports 126 new cases for the week ending Jan. 25, up slightly from the prior week, and a positivity rate of 11.05%.
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