COVID-19 fatalities jump statewide and in region, as new-case surge continues; 6 new deaths in Cambria

Randy Griffith, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

Dec. 8—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A whopping 586 new COVID-19 deaths were added to the statewide total on Tuesday, including 30 in this eight-county region.

The spike comes as new COVID-19 cases continue to surge, with 7,912 new positives in Tuesday's update by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Cambria County had 140 new cases, Somerset County had 91, Bedford County had 33, Blair County had 81, Indiana County had 56, Clearfield County had 56, Centre County had 61 and Westmoreland County had 391 new cases.

Bedford County's three additional COVID-19 deaths Tuesday brings its total to 200 fatalities.

Cambria and Westmoreland each added six new deaths, Blair and Clearfield each added five, Somerset also had three and Centre and Indiana each recorded one new death.

Deaths included in the department's daily update did not, necessarily, occur during the previous day. Reports are often delayed several days while coroners and doctors confirm the COVID-19 link.

Pennsylvania now has had 1,791,030 cases and 34,107 deaths attributed to COVID-19 since the pandemic struck last year.

The health department on Tuesday provided an update of trends for the week that ended Sunday, explaining that weekly updates will replace daily press releases that have been issued since the spring of 2020.

"One of the things we have learned over the past 21 months is that following trends over a week or longer provides a clearer picture of what is happening," Acting Secretary of Health Allison Beam said. "To help people better understand, our team will continue to update the various dashboards on a daily basis and we will shift from a daily news release of numbers to a seven-day reporting of important trends."

There were 9% more patients hospitalized across Pennsylvania on Monday than there were one week earlier on Nov. 27. Available adult and pediatric ICU beds in the state fell to 15.5% and 11%, respectively.

There were 654 deaths attributed to COVID-19 over the seven days, with 66% occurring in people ages 70 and older, the department reported.

On the vaccine front, combining reports from the state and Philadelphia health departments shows 7,737,889 Pennsylvanians are now fully vaccinated. That's a one-week increase of 114,290 people.

Vaccine providers have administered 18,188,243 doses, including 1,892,802 boosters for a one-week increase of 515,850 doses and 251,759 boosters.

The state health department reports a 47.2% increase in vaccines over the previous week.