With the latest increases, Luzerne County’s average daily COVID-19 hospitalizations are only 7.6 below the number from mid-January this year.
An average daily 123 county residents were hospitalized last week, which is an increase of 8.3 from the 114.7 recorded the previous week ending Dec. 9, according to the state’s latest early warning dashboard update.
Looking back to mid-January, the average was 130.6 hospitalizations. The county’s average was only 3.3 hospitalizations the week ending July 22.
Case counts also rose countywide last week.
There were 1,459 new confirmed cases in the county last week, which is an increase of 140 compared to the previous week’s 1,319 new cases, said the state health department’s report posted at www.health.pa.gov.
That boosted the county’s incidence rate, or number of cases per 100,000 residents, from 415.5 two weeks ago to a new 459.6.
The county’s positivity rate, or the percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results, is now 17.2% — an increase from the prior week’s 16.3%.
Also rising was the percentage of hospital visits tied to coronavirus-like illnesses in the county, which went from 1.1% two weeks ago to 1.7% last week, it said.
In the remaining dashboard benchmark, the average daily number of hospitalized county residents on ventilators decreased from 8 to 7 over the two-week period, it said.
The county’s incidence and positivity rates both remain higher than the statewide numbers.
State numbers
Statewide, there were 43,079 new cases last week, or 146 less than the prior week’s 43,225 new cases, the dashboard said.
As a result, the state’s incidence rate decreased from 337.6 to 336.5.
The state also had a slight reduction in its positivity rate, from 14.5% to 14.4% over the two weeks, it said.
COVID-19 hospitalizations jumped from an average daily 4,251 two weeks ago to 4,581.3 last week, or an increase of 330.3.
The average daily number of hospitalized patients on ventilators rose from 522.6 to 557 over the two-week period, or an increase of 34.4, the dashboard said.
ER visits increased from 1.7% to 1.9%.
Vaccines
A total 184,909 county residents are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s vaccine dashboard at health.pa.gov.
That means 61.5% of 300,742 eligible county residents are now fully covered, which is an increase from the prior week’s 60.8%.
Of those already fully vaccinated in the county, 63,338 have obtained an additional booster shot since Aug. 13.
Another 22,023 county residents are partially vaccinated because they did not yet receive both required doses, the dashboard said.
Luzerne County currently ranks 12th among Pennsylvania counties for its percentage of eligible residents fully vaccinated, which is one notch down from its summer ranking, the dashboard shows.
Montour County remains at the head of the pack, with 76.3% of 17,182 eligible residents fully vaccinated.
Lehigh County in the Allentown area ranks second, with 70.2% of its 347,373 eligible residents receiving all required doses.
Neighboring Lackawanna County continues to hold its ranking as fifth, with a 68% vaccination rate. It has 135,019 of 198,664 eligible residents fully vaccinated.
Closest to home, here are the rates of fully vaccinated residents in counties bordering Luzerne aside from Lackawanna, based on the dashboard: Wyoming, 58.5%; Carbon, 58.1%; Columbia, 57.7%; Schuylkill, 57.5%; Monroe, 54.9%; and Sullivan, 51.6%.