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126390705_web1_covid-by-zip-1-29-2021

18702 shows the biggest surge of new cases in Luzerne County

Fewer Luzerne County residents were hospitalized for COVID-19 this week, but more of those hospitalized required ventilators, the state&rsquo;s early warning dashboard report released Friday shows.
				An average 119.6 county residents were hospitalized each day this week, or 11 less than the prior week&rsquo;s 130.6, according to the report comparing data from the weeks ending Thursday and Jan. 21.
				Of those hospitalized, an average daily 10 were on ventilators, an increase of 3.1 from the previous week&rsquo;s 6.9, said the report, which 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>.
				The county had 1,036 new confirmed coronavirus cases reported this week, or 99 more than the 937 cases tracked two weeks ago.
				As a result, the number of cases per 100,000 residents, or county incidence rate, rose from 295.2 to 326.4 over the two-week period.
				However, some explanation is required.
				The state health department reported 468 new cases of COVID-19 in the county on Wednesday but said more than half of those were from a lab report covering cases over two weeks old. The state was working with that lab to ensure more timely reporting of its cases, it said.
				In other early warning updates released Friday, the county&rsquo;s positivity rate, or the percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results, decreased slightly from 11.8% to a new 11.6%. The county&rsquo;s rate was 1.5% when the state launched the dashboard at the end of June.
				Also, the county&rsquo;s percentage of hospital visits tied to coronavirus-like illnesses increased from 0.6% to 1.1% over the two weeks.
				Statewide numbers
				The state improved in all five benchmark categories.
				There were 25,985 additional confirmed cases this week, or 5,823 less than the 31,808 reported two weeks ago.
				This lowered the state&rsquo;s incidence rate from 248.5 to 203.
				The statewide positivity rate dropped from 10.4% to a new 9.3%.
				An average daily 3,792.3 coronavirus hospitalizations were reported statewide this week &mdash; a decrease of 1,067.6, the report said.
				On average, there were 451.9 hospitalized residents on ventilators each day this week, a reduction of 107.1.
				The percentage of hospital visits due to coronavirus-like illnesses also decreased from 0.8% to 0.7% during the two-week period.

Fewer hospitalized for virus in Luzerne County, but more needed ventilators