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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday reported 149 new cases of COVID-19 in Luzerne County and the death count has reached 423.
				That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Luzerne County to 16,022.
				Neighboring Lackawanna County has 8,052 cases and 261 deaths; Monroe County has 5,611 cases and 190 deaths.
				The Department of Health confirmed that there were 9,605 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 581,156.
				On Thursday, the Department of Health confirmed that there were 9,230 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 590,386.
				Statewide percent positivity for the week of Dec. 11&#8211;Dec. 17, stood at 15.8%.
				As of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 23, there were 276 new deaths reported for a total of 14,718 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
				Mask-wearing is required in all businesses and whenever leaving home. Consistent mask-wearing is critical to preventing the spread of COVID-19.
				Out of our total deaths, 8,412 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.
				Approximately 18,340 of our total cases are among health care workers.
				COVID-19 vaccine distribution
				Pennsylvania hospitals began receiving shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine the week of Dec. 14 and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine the week of Dec. 21.
				Through Dec. 22: 109 hospitals have received 127,755 vaccine doses.
				Through Dec. 24: 57,602 doses of the vaccine have been administered.

149 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Luzerne County on Friday