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Luzerne County had 79 new confirmed coronavirus cases from Aug. 28 to Thursday &mdash; a decrease of seven from the prior week&rsquo;s 86, according to the state health department&rsquo;s latest Friday early warning dashboard update.
				The reduction lowered the county&rsquo;s incidence rate, or number of cases per 100,000 residents, from 27.1 to 24.9 over the two-week period, it said.
				Another dashboard benchmark &mdash; the &ldquo;positivity rate,&rdquo; or percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results &mdash; also declined from 3.4% to a new 3.2%.
				The latest report means county school districts will remain in the &ldquo;moderate&rdquo; ranking for community transmission.
				School districts in &ldquo;moderate&rdquo; counties should avoid full in-person instruction and use either remote-only learning or a blended hybrid model, with some students in school while others learn remotely at home, the state said.
				To advance to the &ldquo;low&rdquo; virus spread ranking, counties must have both fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period and a positivity rate below 5%, the state has said.
				Districts in counties ranked as &ldquo;low&rdquo; transmission should consider full in-person instruction for all students or a blended system, the state said.
				In other county benchmark updates:
				&#8226; The average daily number of coronavirus hospitalizations remained the same, at 5.1.
				&#8226; On average, 1 coronavirus patient was on a ventilator each day, compared to 0.3 the week before &mdash; an increase of 0.7.
				&#8226; The county&rsquo;s hospital visits due to coronavirus-like illnesses also increased from 0.4% to 0.6%.
				State results
				The state ended its five-week trend of a declining positivity rate.
				Pennsylvania&rsquo;s rate increased to 4% last week, compared to 3.2% the previous week.
				The number of new coronavirus cases statewide rose from 4,188 to 5,453 &mdash; an increase of 1,265. As a result, cases per 100,000 also jumped from 32.7 to 42.6, the dashboard said.
				The remaining statewide dashboard updates:
				&#8226; Average daily hospitalizations decreased from 522 to 516.9.
				&#8226; The daily average number of patients on ventilators dropped from 79.1 to 72.
				&#8226; The percentage of hospital visits due to coronavirus-like illnesses statewide remained the same &mdash; 0.6%.
				The dashboard is posted at <a href="https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Pages/Monitoring-Dashboard.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.health.pa.gov</a>.
				State officials issued a public notice Friday reminding residents to avoid large gatherings, social distance and wear masks over the Labor Day weekend.
				The state defines mass gatherings as at least 25 people indoors and 250 outdoors.
				Case investigations revealed an increasing number of those testing positive reported attending gatherings, the state said.
				Nearly 13%, or 272, of the 2,114 confirmed case subjects who were forthcoming with investigators between Aug. 16 and 22 said they had attended a mass gathering or other large event within the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.
				Those hosting small gatherings are advised to greet guests with smiles and waves instead of hugs or handshakes, ensure masks are available for guests without them, frequently clean/disinfect high-touch surfaces, keep tables and chairs spread out, wash hands before eating or handling food and limit those preparing and serving food.
				State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said the coronavirus does not &ldquo;take a holiday&rdquo; or &ldquo;respect county or state lines.&rdquo;

Latest weekly Luzerne County coronavirus benchmarks released