Berks adds 143 COVID cases as 7-day average rises

Oct. 23—Berks County added 143 COVID-19 cases in the Saturday update of the Pennsylvania Department of Health pandemic dashboard.

The four-day period ending with Saturday's report has packed a punch, recording a total of 620 new cases at an average of 155.

The pandemic total of cases increased to 57,860.

The update is the accumulated statistics for the previous day, which in this case was Friday. Each new case is a new person testing positive.

The seven-day case average, which fell to 125 on Tuesday, was back on the march upward and hit 135 on Saturday.

The averages smooth the uneven processing of data.

Pennsylvania overall picked up another 4,573 COVID cases and the pandemic total continued moving up from 1.53 million.

Cases have been lower this week, with no day reaching 5,000. The delta date record is over 5,800.

On Saturday, Berks had about 3.1% of the state's cases. The county has 3.3% of the state population.

For most days in the delta surge, the Berks case level has been below the 3.3% threshold, though two of the four latest days it was above.

Hospitalizations

Hospitalizations were finally beginning to improve in Berks and across Pennsylvania by the Saturday dashboard update.

It showed 65 COVID patients in Berks, down five from Friday, including 12 in intensive care, which is the same as Friday.

Reading Hospital and Penn State Health St. Joseph dashboard updates are only on weekdays.

Overall in Pennsylvania, it was the fourth day of declining patient totals, with another 75 fewer for a total of 2,825. That is now more than 200 lower than the delta peak of 3,031.

However, the number of intensive care patients statewide was the same for the third straight day at 668.

Deaths

The county coroner's update Friday of nine COVID deaths made October the deadliest month of the delta surge, and pushed the pandemic total of deaths within Berks to 1,079.

There were no deaths of Berks residents in the Saturday health department dashboard update and that pandemic total remained at 1,136.

The number of COVID deaths increased by 61 overall in Pennsylvania to a pandemic total of 30,903.

Vaccinations

In COVID vaccinations, Berks continued to post modest increase with the booster doses leading the way, the dashboard showed.

There were 459 more boosters given for a total of 10,060 in Berks. For Pennsylvania overall, another 20,967 were recorded for a total of 451,050.

In Berks, 233 residents finished the inoculation process for a total of 211,913, with the partials column rising by 40 to 22,447.

Across Pa., about 7,000 residents finished the inoculation process for a total just below 6.42 million, with the partials column rising by 3,620 to 769,771.

The overwhelming number of people getting vaccinated receive the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna products. The partial migrates to completed after the second dose. The one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is one shot and completed.

An increasing partials column means more people are starting the process than finishing, which has been the case in recent weeks due largely to employer mandates.

CDC on Berks

Berks seven-day COVID data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with daily trend:

—919: Total cases, up 15.

—7,849: Total tests, down 200.

—16: Deaths, down one.

—52: New hospital admissions, up four.

—218.2: New cases per 100,000 residents, up slightly.

—10.3%: Positivity rate, down 0.5.

—64.5%: Eligible residents fully vaccinated, up a tenth.

The CDC count of fully vaccinated Berks residents was up nearly 400 to 232,622.

That agency includes Veterans Affairs inoculations and the early effort in nursing homes, which do not fall under the state's data.

CDC on Pa.

The latest seven-day CDC numbers for Pennsylvania:

—29,414: Total new cases, down about 200

—343: new hospital admissions, down slightly

—479: deaths, 18 fewer

—69.2%: Fully vaccinated, up a tick

All the counties remain in high community spread. The week's total of deaths is down from a recent delta high of 616 over seven days.

National picture

In both cases and deaths, the trend nationally is down though slowing to nearly a plateau, according to CDC numbers.

The seven-day case average dipped to 71,550, less than half of the delta peak.

The seven-day death average is 1,257, about two-third of the delta peak.

The data in both categories typically fluctuate for a week while all the reports come in from across the country and a final daily total is realized.

COVID in Berks

143: new cases

57,860: pandemic total

135: 7-day average

1,136: deaths, state

1,079: deaths, coroner

232,622: residents fully vaccinated