COVID-19 cases, deaths decline worldwide; local figures stay steady

Randy Griffith, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read
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Aug. 25—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — New COVID-19 infections and deaths are dropping almost everywhere, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The number of coronavirus deaths reported worldwide fell by 15% in the past week while new infections dropped by 9%, WHO told The Associated Press.

New infections declined in every region except the Western Pacific. Deaths jumped by more than 183% in Africa, but fell by nearly a third in Europe and by 15% in the Americas, the Associated Press reported.

WHO warned that COVID-19 numbers are likely severely underestimated. Many countries have dropped their testing and surveillance protocols to monitor the virus, so there are far fewer cases being detected.

Meanwhile, a new booster designed for the current, more contagious, subvariant of the COVID-19 omicron variant should be available in a few weeks.

Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech finalized their submissions to the Food and Drug Administration, asking for emergency authorization of booster shots aimed at BA.5 and another subvariant of omicron that together account for most coronavirus cases in the United States.

"We have really got to do better to protect the American public," Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, told The New York Times on Tuesday. "We are in the middle of a BA.5 outbreak here, and we are nowhere near where we want to be."

The Biden administration plans to kick off a fall booster campaign shortly after Labor Day to prepare for an expected fall/winter surge of COVID-19 cases.

Local and state COVID-19 numbers continue to remain steady, with no evidence of a surge.

There were 686 new cases reported statewide over the past seven days, down from 922 cases last week.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health's weekly report showed 102 COVID-19-related deaths reported in the past seven days, down from 133 last week.

The state's totals are now 3,167,638 cases and 4,629 deaths since the pandemic struck in 2020.

Cambria County added 365 new positives and two deaths in the past seven days. Somerset County had 155 new cases with no deaths, Bedford County had 73 new cases and two deaths and Blair County had 228 new cases and four deaths.

Indiana County had 158 new cases and no deaths, Clearfield County had 160 new cases and two deaths, Centre County had 263 new cases and four deaths and Westmoreland County had 686 new cases and two deaths.