Luzerne County Manager C. David Pedri speaks during a 2019 hearing about the closure of SCI-Retreat in this file photo. With four new Luzerne County coronavirus deaths this week and accelerating case counts, county Manager C. David Pedri is calling on residents to ‘start buckling back down’ in adhering to prevention protocols.
                                 Times Leader file photo

Luzerne County Manager C. David Pedri speaks during a 2019 hearing about the closure of SCI-Retreat in this file photo. With four new Luzerne County coronavirus deaths this week and accelerating case counts, county Manager C. David Pedri is calling on residents to ‘start buckling back down’ in adhering to prevention protocols.

Times Leader file photo

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With four new Luzerne County coronavirus deaths this week and accelerating case counts, county Manager C. David Pedri is calling on residents to “start buckling back down” in adhering to prevention protocols.

“I walk around the county, and people say the numbers are good. They were, but now I’m looking at an alarming trend here — a scary trend,” Pedri said Friday. “This should be a wake-up call that the virus is still here.”

Three of the deaths were confirmed by the county coroner’s office Thursday, and the fourth was confirmed Friday, he said.

These deaths have not yet appeared in the state’s daily case reports.

The victims were a 92-year-old woman and 83-year-old man in nursing homes and two hospitalized residents — a 72-year-old man and 77-year-old woman, he said.

Pedri said the county’s last death linked to COVID-19 was on Sept. 21.

“And then we have four deaths confirmed in two days. We are not out of the woods yet,” Pedri said.

Other signs

The county had 272 new confirmed coronavirus cases from Oct. 9 to Thursday — an increase of 138 from the prior week’s 134, according to the state’s latest early warning dashboard update posted Friday.

As a result, the county’s incidence rate, or number of cases per 100,000 residents, rose from 42.2 to 85.6 over the two-week period, it said.

The “positivity rate,” or percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results, jumped to 6% compared to the prior week’s 3.9%.

County increases also were reported in the three remaining benchmarks:

• Average daily coronavirus hospitalizations went from 6.6 to 16.3 over the last two weeks.

• On average, 1.1 coronavirus patients were on a ventilator the last seven days, compared to 0.3 the prior week.

• The county’s hospital visits due to coronavirus-like illnesses rose from 0.6% to 0.7%.

Based on these numbers, county school districts are now more entrenched in the “moderate” virus spread ranking, which means they are advised to avoid full in-person instruction.

To advance to the “low” 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 or a blended system, with some students in school while others learn remotely at home, the state said.

Worked before

At one point earlier in the pandemic, the county was among those with the most cases statewide, Pedri said.

“The only reason we were able to alter that was because citizens took it very seriously,” Pedri said.

Like many, Pedri said he is tired of always wearing a mask and keeping a distance from others and has caught himself letting down his guard at times as the cases declined.

“But we’ve got to maintain vigilance at this point,” he added, expressing concern for the looming impact of people spending more times indoors with the colder weather.

County hospitals have coronavirus patients but none on ventilators or in intensive care units as of Friday morning, he said.

“Our medical providers are ready, willing and able to address any needs,” Pedri said.

Broader view

Pennsylvania also experienced a rise in cases, the latest update said.

There were 8,723 additional cases statewide in the week ending Thursday, or 1,325 more than the prior week’s 7,398.

With that increase, the statewide cases per 100,000 rose from 57.8 to 68.1. The state’s positivity rate increased from 3.9% to 4.3% in the latest week.

The remaining statewide updates in the dashboard, which is posted at www.health.pa.gov.

• Average daily hospitalizations rose from 640.1 t0 758.7.

• The daily average number of patients on ventilators increased from 75.9 to 87.6.

• The percentage of hospital visits due to coronavirus-like illnesses statewide decreased from 0.9% to 0.8%.

Neighboring Lackawanna County also saw an increase in some benchmarks. Its new week-to-week cases rose from 162 to 325, causing the incidence rate to climb from 76.9 to 154.2, the dashboard said. The county’s positivity rate is now 8.2%, compared to 5.3% two weeks ago.

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