126353969_web1_covid-by-zip-1-22-2021

Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton ZIP codes continue to lead in new COVID-19 cases

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More Luzerne County residents were hospitalized for COVID-19 this week, although the county&rsquo;s coronavirus case count and rate of positive tests decreased, the early warning dashboard report released Friday shows.
				An average 130.6 county residents were hospitalized each day this week, or 10 more than the prior week&rsquo;s 120.6, said the report comparing data from the weeks ending Thursday and Jan. 14.
				The trend was different at the statewide level this week, with an average daily 4,859.9 hospitalizations reported &mdash; a decrease of 294.7, according to the report 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>.
				Aside from hospitalizations, the county had positive signs in its latest report.
				The county had 938 new confirmed cases this week, or 237 less than the 1,175 additional cases tracked two weeks ago.
				As a result, the number of cases per 100,000 residents, or county incidence rate, decreased from 370.2 to 295.5 over the two-week period.
				Its positivity rate, or the percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results, declined from 13.4% to a new 11.9%. As a reminder, the county&rsquo;s rate was 1.5% when the state launched the dashboard at the end of June.
				Of those hospitalized, an average 6.9 were on ventilators, or 3.4 less than the 10.3 reported two weeks ago.
				In the final benchmark tracked in the dashboard, the county&rsquo;s percentage of hospital visits tied to coronavirus-like illnesses decreased from 0.7% to 0.6% over the two weeks.
				Statewide numbers
				The state had declines in all five benchmark categories, including the decreased hospitalizations.
				There were 31,140 additional confirmed cases this week, or 10,191 less than the 41,331 reported two weeks ago.
				This lowered the state&rsquo;s incidence rate from 322.8 to 243.2.
				The statewide positivity rate decreased from 12.8% to a new 10.5%.
				On average, there were 559 hospitalized residents on ventilators each day this week, a reduction of 73.6.
				The percentage of hospital visits due to coronavirus-like illnesses also decreased from 0.9% to 0.8% over the two-week period.

Luzerne County coronavirus hospitalizations up, new report shows