Clinton County Joins Virus Counties that “Bear Watching”
HARRISBURG, PA – Clinton County has joined a growing list of Pennsylvania counties where coronavirus cases are on the uptick, part of a growing COVID-19 trend across the state. The statewide positivity rate went from 4.2 percent the previous week to 5.0 percent this week. Clinton County’s rate is listed at 5.3 percent.
Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine on Monday released a weekly status update detailing the state’s mitigation efforts based on the COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard.
“Our percent positivity and incidence rate for the Commonwealth increased significantly in the midst of our fall resurgence,” Gov. Wolf said. “We cannot emphasize enough the importance of Pennsylvanians being united in taking actions to protect ourselves and others, such as wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, washing our hands and avoiding gatherings. It is only by working together that Pennsylvanians can prevent the spread of the virus.”
As of Thursday, October 22, the state has seen a seven-day case increase of 10,127 cases; the previous seven-day increase was 8,849 cases, indicating a 1,278-case increase over the previous week’s total.
The statewide percent-positivity went up to 5.0% from 4.2% last week. Counties with concerning percent-positivity include Huntingdon (12.0%), Bradford (11.2%), Lawrence (9.0%), Lebanon (8.7%), Westmoreland (8.4%), Perry (8.2%), Bedford (7.6%), Luzerne (7.5%), Schuylkill (7.5%), Tioga (7.2%), York (7.2%), Indiana (7.0%), Lackawanna (7.0%), Venango (7.0%), Mifflin (6.8%), Armstrong (6.7%), Berks (6.6%), Cumberland (6.6%), Montour (6.3%), Philadelphia (6.1%), Franklin (6.0%), Elk (5.9%), Washington (5.9%), Mercer (5.6%), Dauphin (5.5%), Susquehanna (5.5%), Blair (5.3%), Clinton (5.3%), Clarion (5.1%), Northumberland (5.1%). The governor said each of these counties and the state bears watching.
As of Friday’s data, Berks, Bradford, Centre, Elk, Huntingdon, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Lebanon, Luzerne, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, and Westmoreland counties were in the substantial level of community transmission. The departments of Education and Health will speak with school district representatives in these counties to discuss the implications of this level of transmission.
For the week ending October 22, nine counties were in the low level of transmission, 43 counties in the moderate level, with 15 with substantial transmission:
Low – Cameron, Forest, Fulton, Jefferson, Pike, Potter, Sullivan, Warren, Wayne
Moderate – Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Carbon, Chester, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Indiana, Juniata, Lancaster, Lehigh, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Snyder, Somerset, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Venango, Washington, Wyoming, York
Substantial – Berks, Bradford, Centre, Elk, Huntingdon, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Lebanon, Luzerne, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, Westmoreland
The Department of Health is also providing weekly data on the number of statewide cases of COVID-19 among 5 to 18-year-olds.
Throughout the pandemic, there have been 13,345 total cases of COVID-19 among 5 to 18-year-olds. Of that total, 1,183 occurred between October 16 – October 22. For the week of October 9 – October 15, there were 991 cases of COVID-19 among 5 to 18-year-olds.
