Local COVID-19 surge easing, statewide numbers also down

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

May 7—The local area's COVID-19 spring surge has begun to ease as statewide numbers continue to subside, the Department of Health report showed Thursday.

For 18 of the past 19 days, there have been fewer new cases statewide than on the same day one week earlier. The exception was April 30, when the department said the daily report included positive tests dating back several months due to delayed laboratory reports.

The state said 100 of the 2,476 cases added on Thursday included some from one lab that "is still getting caught up with backlogged data" and another that submitted more than 100 test results dating back more than a month.

Even with the additional cases, there were fewer new cases than last Thursday, April 29, when 3,322 cases were added.

An additional 57 deaths were reported Thursday, bringing the state totals to 1,166,692 cases and 26,447 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

A press release Thursday did not indicate where the older test results were reported, but the local region's seven-day rolling average has continued a downward trend.

Cambria County added 43 cases, with a seven-day average of 41 cases a day. That's down from an average of 53 cases two weeks ago.

Somerset County added 22 cases and has an average of 21 cases a day — unchanged from two weeks ago.

Bedford County added 14 cases and has an average of 13 cases a day — down from an average of 18 cases two weeks ago.

Blair County added 34 cases and has an average of 46 cases a day — down from 58 cases two weeks ago.

Elsewhere across the region, Indiana County added 30 cases, Clearfield County added 27 cases, Centre County added 16 cases and Westmoreland County added 53 cases.

Somerset and Clearfield each reported one additional death.

Vaccine providers have administered 8,939,043 vaccine doses, ranking Pennsylvania fifth in the nation for total doses.

There are now 3,710,362 Pennsylvanians fully vaccinated and another 1,825,025 partially vaccinated, meaning they have received one dose of a two-dose vaccine.

The daily vaccination rate has dropped to about 81,100 doses a day, the department report shows. The average peaked at more than 101,000 doses a day for the seven days ending April 23.