Monroe County's COVID cases up 240.9%; Pennsylvania cases surge 189.6%

Mike Stucka and Brian Myszkowski, Pocono Record
·5 min read

New coronavirus cases leaped in Pennsylvania in the week ending Sunday, rising 189.6% as 21,316 cases were reported. The previous week had 7,360 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Pennsylvania ranked 22nd among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 21.4% from the week before, with 605,127 cases reported. With 3.85% of the country's population, Pennsylvania had 3.52% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 47 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Monroe County reported 300 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 88 cases and two deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 37,881 cases and 524 deaths.

Within Pennsylvania, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Bradford County with 454 cases per 100,000 per week; Lackawanna County with 288; and Luzerne County with 252. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Allegheny County, with 2,702 cases; Philadelphia County, with 2,194 cases; and Montgomery County, with 1,900. Weekly case counts rose in 67 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Allegheny, Montgomery and Delaware counties.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Pennsylvania ranked 13th among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 84.9% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 77.7%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.

In the week ending Wednesday, Pennsylvania reported administering another 126,842 vaccine doses, including 22,201 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 319,300 vaccine doses, including 22,696 first doses. In all, Pennsylvania reported it has administered 23,045,182 total doses.

In Pennsylvania, 81 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 55 people were reported dead.

A total of 2,850,343 people in Pennsylvania have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 44,814 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 82,468,606 people have tested positive and 999,602 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Across the Poconos

Pa. Department of Health data shows COVID cases across the Poconos are increasing in yet another wave of the pandemic, with Monroe, Carbon, Lackawanna and Wayne counties reporting daily case counts not seen since February.

The COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard has shown increases in confirmed cases for the entirety of the Poconos and Lackawanna County in their most recent readings from May 4 to May 10.

In the most recent reading, Monroe's confirmed cases escalated from 211 during the previous week to 274; the PCR positivity rate went up from 15.5% to 17.4%; the incidence rate increased from 123.9 to 160.9 per 100,000; and the percentage of emergency room visits due to COVID-like illnesses elevated from 0.7% to 0.9%.

During the same time frame, Pike's confirmed cases went up from 69 to 87, Carbon increased from 67 to 101, Wayne escalated from 40 to 59, and Lackawanna jumped from 306 to 448.

Average daily hospitalizations due to COVID-19 largely dropped across the region, with only Wayne County reporting a slight increase from 3.1 to 3.6.

The Pennsylvania COVID-19 Dashboard shows sustained growth when it comes to the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized (using a moving average of the past two weeks) since early-mid April, when Monroe saw rates as low as 4.9. Currently, Monroe is reporting an average of 9.5 COVID-19 patients hospitalized per day, and Carbon, Wayne and Lackawanna counties have noted similar trends.

As of Tuesday, COVID-19 community levels in Monroe, Carbon and Pike counties are listed as medium, while Wayne and Lackawanna are classified as high, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Community levels are calculated using new cases per 100,000 people per day, new COVID-19 admissions to hospitals per 100,000 people in a seven-day total, and the inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients in a seven-day average.

Pandemic in the PoconosNortheast Pa. hospitals talk COVID challenges and changes

Pennsylvania's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, May 15.

Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 3,883

  • The week before that: 3,576

  • Four weeks ago: 2,900

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 49,753

  • The week before that: 44,912

  • Four weeks ago: 37,527

Hospitals in 45 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 29 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 41 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.

— Brian Myszkowski covers the COVID-19 pandemic in northeast Pennsylvania and is based at the Pocono Record. Reach him by emailing bmyszkowski@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: The Poconos are seeing another spike in COVID-19 cases