COVID-19 increase looks like another surge, countywide and in ZIP codes

It’s starting to look like a full-blown COVID-19 surge in Luzerne County after a week in which the daily counts went from 30 on July 31 to 61 on Friday. The 14-day increase per 100,000 residents, tracked by the Times Leader for more than a year, shot up from 77 to 133 in the same stretch. Which ZIP Codes are the hot spots this time?

Of the 41 codes all or partially in Luzerne County tracked by the Times Leader since the state began releasing ZIP code-level data, the highest number of new cases belonged to the same three codes that have been at or near the top almost every week: Wilkes-Barre’s 18702 had 33 new cases, Kingston’s 18704 had 29 new cases, and Hazleton’s 18201 had 22 new cases.

But the next highest code is a bit of a surprise? The fourth highest count of new cases occurred in the Mountain Top code of of 18707, with 20 new cases. While the code has made a number of appearances in the top 10, it was more frequently in the second 10. This is only the second time Times Leader calculations landed it in the top four.

Five more codes had increases in the double digits this week: Pittston’s 18604 with 17, Wilkes-Barre’s 18706 with 16 and 18705 with 13, and 10 each in the Nanticoke 18634 code and the Pittston 18643 code.

Of the remaining codes, 23 had between one and nine new cases, and nine had zero new cases.