Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Luzerne County’s coronavirus hospitalizations are now at a record high for the pandemic, according to state data.
Average daily COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county jumped to 175.7 the week ending Jan. 20, which was an increase of 15.1 from the prior week’s 160.6, the state’s early warning dashboard update shows.
The county’s previous weekly hospitalization high was exactly a year ago — an average daily 130.6 the week ending Jan. 21, 2021, past published reports said.
That report differed slightly from a separate state Health Department report used to create the graphic which accompanies this story, which said the previous high was 127.7 on Dec. 19, 2020, and the new high was 171.1 as of Friday. The numbers are comparable, and reflect the new record high.
Statewide, residents who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated account for 85% of reported COVID-19 hospitalizations, the state health department said last week.
“In Pennsylvania we are carefully tracking post-vaccination, often called breakthrough, data which continues to show that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the most effective way to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death,” Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter said in a release. “The odds are clearly stacked in favor of people who are vaccinated.”
More comparison
Largely due to the fast-spreading omicron variant, the county’s statistics in other early warning benchmarks are more bleak than they were a year ago.
A comparison of benchmarks last week (Jan. 14-20) to the same week a year ago (Jan. 15-21):
• Weekly new cases
Last week: 3,445 new cases, which is a decrease of 1,686 from the previous week’s 5,131 new cases
Year ago: 938 new cases
• County incidence rate, or number of cases per 100,000 residents
Last week: 1,085.3, or a decrease from the prior week’s 1,616.5
Year ago: 295.5
• Average county residents on ventilators
Last week: 14.9, which is an increase of 1.9 from the previous week
Year ago: 6.9
• Positivity rate, or the percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results
Last week: 34.2%, a reduction from the prior week’s 39.7%
Year ago: 11.9%
• Percentage of hospital visits tied to coronavirus-like illnesses
Last week: 1.3%, a decline from 1.7% two weeks ago
Year ago: 0.6%
State numbers
The county’s incidence and positivity rates both remain higher than the statewide averages.
Statewide, there were 120,804 new COVID-19 cases last week, or 43,554 less than the prior week’s 164,358 new cases, according to the dashboard report posted at www.health.pa.gov.
That lowered the state’s incidence rate from 1,283.8 two weeks ago to 943.6 last week, it said.
The state’s positivity rate decreased from 35.7% to 31.5% over the two weeks.
Coronavirus hospitalizations also declined statewide to 7,231.9, a reduction of 173.8 from the previous week’s 7,405.7, it said.
The average daily number of hospitalized patients on ventilators rose statewide, from 666.9 to 705.3, the dashboard said.
Finally, ER visits dropped from 1.9% to 1.4%.
Vaccines
Another 932 county residents were fully vaccinated with all required initial shots since Jan. 14, bringing the total to 63.36% of eligible residents, according to the state health department’s vaccination dashboard at health.pa.gov.
Specifically, 190,553 of 300,742 eligible county residents have received all shots required for initial vaccination.
Of those already fully vaccinated in the county, 87,560 have obtained an additional booster shot since Aug. 13. That’s an increase of 7,703 since Jan. 14.
In addition, 26,642 county residents are partially vaccinated because they did not yet receive both required initial doses, the dashboard said.
Pediatric vaccines
As of Jan. 21, a total 4,082 county children ages 5 to 11 had received both doses required for full initial vaccination since Nov. 2. Another 1,445 county children in this age group are partially vaccinated, the dashboard said.
Statewide, 202,047 children in this age group are now fully vaccinated, while another 272,448 have received the first shot, it said.
Deaths
The county’s most recent coronavirus death victims included a 57-year-old and four residents in their 60s, according to a coroner’s office report covering 17 deaths that occurred from Jan. 14 to 19.
An age breakdown of the remaining deaths in this report: three in their 70s, six in their 80s and three in their 90s.
Three were listed as residents of nursing homes or assisted living facilities.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.