New coronavirus cases rose significantly in both Luzerne County and statewide last week with the arrival of the omicron variant, but there was not a corresponding growth in hospitalizations, according to the state’s latest early warning dashboard update.
An average daily 123.9 county residents were hospitalized the week ending Thursday, Dec. 30, which was a slight increase of 1.8 from the prior week’s 122.1.
For perspective, the county’s average was 130.6 hospitalizations in mid-January and 3.3 in late July.
Of those hospitalized last week, an average 13.1 were on ventilators each day, or 2.3 less than the count two weeks ago, said the state health department’s report posted at www.health.pa.gov.
There were 2,089 new confirmed cases in the county last week, which is an increase of 856 compared to the previous week’s 1,233 new cases, it said.
As a result, the county’s incidence rate, or number of cases per 100,000 residents, rose from 388.4 two weeks ago to a new 658.1.
The county’s positivity rate, or the percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results, jumped from 15.3% two weeks ago to a new 26.8%.
Emergency rooms also are busier. In the remaining dashboard statistic, the percentage of hospital visits tied to coronavirus-like illnesses in the county rose from 1.8% two weeks ago to 2.8% last week, it said.
Both the county’s incidence and positivity rates are now higher than the statewide averages.
State numbers
Statewide, there were 77,756 new COVID-19 cases last week, or 24,399 more than the prior week’s 53,357 new cases, the dashboard said.
That increased the state’s incidence rate from 416.8 to 607.4 over the two weeks.
The state’s positivity rate rose from 15.3% to a new 24.5% last week, it said.
Coronavirus hospitalizations decreased statewide, from an average daily 4,846.6 two weeks ago to 4,695.6 last week, for a reduction of 151.
The average daily number of hospitalized patients on ventilators remained flat, from 578.4 to 577.3 over the two-week period, or a decrease of 1.1, the dashboard said.
Finally, ER visits increased from 2% to 2.8%.
Vaccines
Another 1,099 county residents were fully vaccinated since Dec. 27, which means the county now has 62.35% eligible residents with all required shots, according to the state health department’s vaccination dashboard at health.pa.gov.
Specifically, 187,521 of 300,742 eligible county residents are fully vaccinated.
Of those already fully vaccinated in the county, 72,969 have obtained an additional booster shot since Aug. 13.
Another 24,327 county residents are partially vaccinated because they did not yet receive both required doses, the dashboard said.
Luzerne County ranks 12th among Pennsylvania counties for its percentage of eligible residents fully vaccinated.
Montour County remains the highest, with 77.25% of 17,182 eligible residents fully vaccinated. Lehigh County is next in line, with 71% of 347,373 eligible residents receiving all required shots.
Pediatric vaccines
As of Monday, 3,299 county children ages 5 to 11 had received both doses required for full vaccination since Nov. 2, with another 1,434 partially vaccinated, the dashboard said.
For comparison, here are the number of fully vaccinated children in this age group in 10 other similarly-categorized, third-class counties in the state that have populations ranging from 210,000 to under 500,000: Berks, 4,084; Chester, 13,631; Cumberland, 4,051; Erie, 3,399; Lackawanna, 3,653; Lancaster, 5,936; Lehigh, 6,015; Northampton, 3,624; Westmoreland, 2,952; and York, 3,644.
Statewide, 165,354 children in this age group are now fully vaccinated, it said.