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Luzerne County had 92 new confirmed coronavirus cases from Sept. 4 to Thursday, which is an increase of 13 from the prior week’s 79, according to the state health department’s latest Friday early warning dashboard update.

As a result, the county’s incidence rate, or number of cases per 100,000 residents, rose from 24.9 to 29 in over the two-week period, it said.

The “positivity rate,” or percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results, also jumped in the county from 3.2% to a new 4.2%.

Due to this reading, county school districts will remain in the “moderate” ranking for community transmission.

School districts in “moderate” counties should avoid full in-person instruction and use either remote-only learning or a blended hybrid model, with some students in school while others learn remotely at home, the state said.

To advance to the “low” virus spread ranking, counties must have both fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period and a positivity rate below 5%, the state has said. Districts in counties ranked as “low” transmission should consider full in-person instruction for all students or a blended system, the state said.

In another dashboard benchmark, the county’s average daily number of coronavirus hospitalizations increased from 5.1 to 15.

The two remaining measurements:

• On average, 0.1 coronavirus patient was on a ventilator each day, compared to 1 the week before.

• The county’s hospital visits due to coronavirus-like illnesses remained the same — 0.6%.

State results

Pennsylvania’s positivity rate increased again in the latest benchmark, but the number of new cases declined.

The state’s positivity rate is 4.2%, compared to 3.9% the previous week.

There were 5,012 cases statewide in the most recent week, or 490 less than the prior week’s 5,502, the dashboard said. With that decline, the cases per 100,000 decreased from 43 to 39.1.

The remaining statewide dashboard updates:

• Average daily hospitalizations decreased from 516.9 to 496.6.

• The daily average number of patients on ventilators dropped from 72 to 62.

• The percentage of hospital visits due to coronavirus-like illnesses statewide remained the same — 0.6%.

The dashboard is posted at www.health.pa.gov.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.