More than 5,000 Pa. school-age kids get COVID-19 in one week, 67 in Cambria, as infection rates climb

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

Sep. 10—Pennsylvania added 26,591 new cases in the past seven days, including 5,371 positives among school-aged children, updates by the Department of Health showed.

In addition to the cases among 5 to 18 years old, there 845 cases among children under 5 years old in weekly pediatrics report.

Cambria had 67 new cases in school-aged children from Sept. 2 through Wednesday — more than double the 32 cases from the previous seven days.

Somerset added 38 cases in the age 5-18 report, Bedford added 32 cases, Blair added 52 cases, Indiana added 48 cases, Clearfield added 56 cases, Centre added 73 cases and Westmoreland added 160 cases in the past seven days.

Meanwhile, the state's one-day COVID-19 report on Friday topped 5,000 new cases for the first time since mid-April, as infection rates continue to increase, the Department of Health update showed.

There were 5,005 new positives statewide, bringing Pennsylvania's total to 1,338,313 COVID-19 cases.

Cambria County had 63 new cases on Friday, Somerset County had 36, Bedford County had 37, Blair had 43, Indiana County had 35, Clearfield County had 41, Centre County had 68 and Westmoreland County had 142 new cases.

Cambria and Westmoreland counties each reported one additional death among 37 statewide, putting Pennsylvania's death toll at 28,535 attributed to COVID-19.

The weekly update of the department's Early Warning Monitoring System dashboard showed the portion of all COVID-19 tests coming back positive went up from 8.2% to 9.1% positivity over the past seven days.

Bedford County had the seventh-highest positivity rate in the state at 16.2%, and was among six of the region's eight counties that showed increasing positivity. Centre County also had a double-digit rate, with 12.9% positivity.

Cambria, Somerset, Indiana, Clearfield counties saw jumps in positivity, while Blair and Westmoreland counties' rates were slightly lower than last week's.

Hospitalizations related to the pandemic continue to surge, with 2,147 inpatients in Pennsylvania hospitals being treated for COVID-19. That includes 535 patients under intensive care and 268 on ventilators or breathing machines.

Hospitals in Cambria, Blair, Somerset and Bedford counties report a total of 69 inpatients, with 14 in ICUs and 13 on ventilators. Last week, there were 1,928 statewide hospitalizations with 65 across the four-county area.

Combined reports from the state and Philadelphia health departments shows vaccine providers have administered 14,303,816 doses and there are now 6,954,157 people fully vaccinated across the state. In past seven days, there were 127,724 doses administered and 67,352 more people became fully vaccinated.