HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – One year after the discovery of the first case of coronavirus in Pennsylvania, Governor Tom Wolf says there is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel with the increasing availability of vaccines.
Wolf, speaking at a news conference on Friday outside a Rite Aid pharmacy where people were being vaccinated, announced on March 6 that Pennsylvania had confirmed its first two cases of the new coronavirus. Since then, Pennsylvania has seen several peaks of cases, counted more than 113,000 confirmed or probable cases of the virus and attributed more than 24,200 deaths to it.
The state Department of Health says more than 868,000 people have been fully vaccinated in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 2,757 additional positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the statewide total to 944,196. The state health department also informed 43 more deaths on Friday.
1,628 people are hospitalized with COVID-19. Of that number, 350 patients are admitted to an intensive care unit with COVID-19, according to the state Department of Health. The majority of hospitalized patients are 65 years of age or older, and the majority of deaths occurred in patients 65 years of age or older.
The state health department says the trend in the 14-day moving average number of hospitalized patients per day is about 4,200 less than it was at the peak on December 25, 2020. However, the current 14-day average now also it is below what it was at the height of the peak of spring on May 3, 2020.
The percentage positivity across the state for the week from February 19 to February 25 was 6.3%.