Keith Mayer: Berks COVID cases and hospitalizations remain on downward trend

Jan. 20—COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continued general downward trends in the Thursday update of the Pennsylvania Department of Health pandemic dashboard.

Berks added 617 cases and reinfections in the state health department's update of the pandemic dashboard, up a bit from Wednesday, with the pandemic case total reaching 94,959.

The averages smooth the uneven processing of test results.

Earlier in January, researchers predicted the omicron variant was running out of targets and that a downturn was around the corner.

The number of COVID patients in Berks hospitals dipped to 199 in the Thursday update, the first time below 200 since since Jan. 8. However, 27 of those patients were in the intensive care unit of Reading Hospital or the critical unit at Penn State Health St. Joseph.

That 27 was among the higher totals this month. The ICU count topped out at 31 in the Dec. 30 dashboard.

The number of hospital admissions in Berks ticked up to 145 for the past seven days, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 23 COVID deaths of Berks residents in the dashboard, raising the pandemic total to 1,438. They were part of 326 deaths statewide, a suddenly very high total amid previously declining numbers.

The health department didn't say if there was a processing backlog in paperwork. The deaths are counted when paperwork arrives at the state records office electronically or by the Postal Service.

The state dashboard statistics apply to the previous day, in this case Wednesday. The CDC is typically two days behind.

In a related statistic, the CDC shows the Berks positivity rate at just below 40%. It's the first time below 40% in nearly three weeks.

In another related statistic, the CDC shows that omicron has nearly eliminated the delta variant and is now 99.5% of the cases across the nation including 99.4% in the region that includes Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania statistics

—17,457: COVID cases and reinfections; state had been at 20,000 or more since Jan. 1 before the past three days.

—2.52 million: Pandemic cases and reinfections total across the state.

—6,962: Hospitalized COVID patients, down about 600 from the surge high last Friday, and first time below 7,000 since Jan. 10.

—1,116: ICU count in Pennsylvania, still lingering above 1,100. The pandemic high was 1,157 last Friday.

—The seven-day hospital admissions average statewide was down to 889, according to the CDC, about 100 fewer than a week ago.

Reading Hospital

The Tower Health update for Reading Hospital on Thursday included these statistics:

—142: total patients; 90 unvaccinated and 52 vaccinated.

—16: ICU count; nine unvaccinated and seven vaccinated.

—14: patients on ventilators; evenly split.

—23: discharges

—2: deaths

—64: positive COVID tests

—120: negative COVID tests

Penn State Health updates its pandemic dashboard on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

COVID In Berks

617: new cases and reinfections

94,959: pandemic total

946: 14-day average

1,438: pandemic deaths, state

1,326: pandemic deaths, coroner

199: hospitalized

27: ICU count

241,175: fully vaccinated (CDC)