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Luzerne County has made significant progress bringing down coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks, but it still hasn&rsquo;t dropped to the low numbers from last summer, according to the latest benchmark reading.
				The county logged 311 new confirmed cases in the week ending last Thursday.
				This a major improvement from the 2,106 new cases reported countywide the week of Dec. 11 to Dec. 17.
				However, it&rsquo;s still not in the ballpark of the 44 new COVID-19 cases tracked the week of June 26 to July 2 in the county, a review shows.
				Statistics in six categories are reported in the state health department&rsquo;s early warning dashboard each week to provide the public with a way to consistently track changes. It is posted <a href="https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Pages/Monitoring-Dashboard.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.health.pa.gov</a>.
				Another number in the weekly report is the positivity rate, or percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results.
				The county&rsquo;s rate was 6% last week, 20.9% in the sample comparison week in December and 1.7%, the end of June.
				Coronavirus hospitalizations follow a similar same trend.
				Last week, an average daily 33.3 county residents were hospitalized &mdash; far less than the 129.7 in December but still much higher than the 7.3 in June.
				Of those hospitalized, an average 4.6 were on ventilators daily last week, versus 8.3 the sample week in December and none last June.
				The two remaining county benchmarks measured last week, along with the statistics reported in the sample comparison weeks:
				&#8226; Incidence rate, or cases per 100,000 residents.
				Last week: 98
				December: 663
				June: 13.9
				&#8226; Percentage of hospital visits tied to coronavirus-like illnesses, which has not fluctuated significantly throughout the pandemic.
				Last week: 0.2%
				December: 0.6%
				June: 0.5%
				As of Sunday, the county had 746 coronavirus deaths.
				County Manager C. David Pedri&rsquo;s latest death report from the county coroner&rsquo;s office, released earlier this month, includes a 51-year-old Wilkes-Barre man among the most recent victims.
				Big picture
				The county&rsquo;s progress falls in line with statewide averages.
				Pennsylvania had a 5.7% positivity rate and 97.5 incidence rate last week, the dashboard shows.
				In a recent release, state Gov. Tom Wolf asked residents to &ldquo;stay the course to unite against this virus.&rdquo;
				&rdquo;As we have passed one year since the first case of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania and are rolling out our vaccination plan, practicing the proven health practices such as social distancing, washing hands frequently and wearing a mask continue to be important steps to mitigating the spread of the virus,&rdquo; he said.
				Only two of the state&rsquo;s 67 counties had double-digit positivity rates last week, the dashboard said: Pike, at 10%, and Monroe, which had a rate of 11%, the dashboard said.
				Acting state health Secretary Alison Beam thanked residents for following safety protocols.
				&rdquo;We are moving in the right direction thanks to the commitment of our fellow Pennsylvanians,&rdquo; she said.

Luzerne County shows marked improvement in latest coronavirus statistics