ZIP Code data: Hazleton area continues to have most new COVID-19 cases

For the week from Aug. 8 through Aug. 14, Hazleton’s two ZIP codes made up 55 percent of the 167 new cases of COVID-19 in Luzerne County, according to state Department of Health data.

Infections are on the rise, with daily totals of confirmed new cases in the double digits since July 24. Data reported on Wednesday showed 49 new cases, the highest single-day increase in more than 13 weeks. The total number of cases every seven days has climbed from 145 in the week of July 25-31 to 167 from Aug. 8-14.

ZIP Code data does not compare directly to county data for two reasons:

1) the state lists 41 ZIP Codes as all or partly in Luzerne County, so some of the cases in some code areas may actually have occurred in a neighboring county. Typically there are a few more new cases when ZIP Codes are totaled than there are for the county.

2) The state redacts the data if a ZIP Code has one to four cases, but data for that code would presumably be included in the county-level data.

Nonetheless, Hazleton has two ZIP Codes that are entirely within the county while Wilkes-Barre has four codes within the county. Those six codes make up the bulk of Luzerne County’s new cases.

(It’s important to note that, in the state ZIP Code data, a specific code often covers a larger area than the municipality it is named after. The “Bloomsburg” code, for example, sprawls from the northwest corner of Columbia County all the way to the county’s eastern border, with a small finger jutting into Luzerne County north of the Rock Glen section of Black Creek Township).

From Aug. 8 through Aug. 14, Hazleton’s two ZIP codes accounted for 92 of the county’s 167 new cases, while Wilkes-Barre’s four codes made up 25 of the total. The remainder of new cases were spread among 19 other codes, with the Freeland code — entirely within the county — having nine new cases. The Berwick code, which splits roughly in half between Columbia and Luzerne counties, had seven, and the Nanticoke code, also entirely in Luzerne County, had seven as well.

Of the remaining ZIP Codes, 16 had no new cases and nine reported one new case.