There were almost 10 times more coronavirus cases among Pennsylvania school-aged children over the first week of September than the same time period in 2020.
That’s according to newly released Pennsylvania Department of Health data, part of its plans to provide weekly updated cases counts for children 0-4 and 5-18 for the 2021-22 school year.
There were 574 COVID-19 cases reported among kids age 5-18 between Sept. 4-10, 2020. This year from Sept. 2-8, there were 5,371 cases amongst the same age group. The department notes these cases are not necessarily linked to COVID-19 exposures in schools or child-care settings.
This surge in cases affecting young people is multi-faceted. The highly contagious Delta variant makes up the vast majority of new U.S. infections, children under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated and in many places mitigation efforts have eased. The majority of children recover easily from the virus, but health experts say a rising number of pediatric hospitalizations should give the nation pause.
Gov. Tom Wolf says this surge in infections in young people is why, starting this week, the state mandated universal masking, regardless of vaccination status, in Pennsylvania schools and child-care centers.
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Delta continues to cause Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths to climb. The state reported 5,005 new infections on Friday, the highest single-day increase since April 17. Both hospitalizations and deaths remain at levels last seen in the spring with 37 new deaths and 2,174 patients reported statewide on Friday.
There have been a total of 1.33 million cases and 28,535 lives lost since the virus was first detected in the state in March 2020.
The country is averaging almost 150,000 new cases a day over the last week and 1,579 deaths, a 28% increase from two weeks ago, according to tracking by The New York Times. Cases are down about 5% from 14 days ago, a sign that the Delta wave is easing in some areas. To date, 40.8 million have been infected by the virus and 657,770 people have died.
There are about 100,755 people hospitalized nationwide, a figure that’s overall been mostly flat over the last two weeks. Although, hospitalization rates in some southern states like Florida remain at or close to record levels. Pennsylvania’s 2,147 hospitalized patients include 535 in intensive care and 268 people on ventilators. The hospitalization rate was last this high in early May.
Current vaccines remain highly effective against preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
All of Pennsylvania’s counties remain in a substantial or high level of community transmission where the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend wearing a mask indoors in public, even if you are fully vaccinated.
The Lehigh Valley reported 1,602 new cases and eight deaths over the last week. The Northampton Area School District is mourning the loss of Mike Gurdineer, a district social studies teacher and assistant football coach who reportedly had battled COVID-19.
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Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure urged anyone who can be vaccinated to go get a shot and to get tested and quarantine if they get sick. Thus far this year, 256 county residents have died from COVID-19, according to data released by the county Friday. The most recent death was Sept. 5, McClure said. There were 477 coronavirus-related deaths of Northampton County residents in 2020.
Lehigh Valley hospitals reported 151 COVID-19 patients on Friday.
“Transmission of COVID-19 in the Lehigh Valley has been ‘high’ for several weeks,” McClure said. “We’re now starting to see the number of deaths rise from the increase in infections.”
The county reported 223 new cases on Friday, a major jump that took the seven-day rolling average to 119 cases, a level not seen since late April.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky said at Friday’s White House COVID-19 briefing that the unvaccinated are “10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die.”
Walensky’s announcement comes as three new studies from the CDC show that COVID-19 vaccines still significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death amid the surge in the Delta variant.
Currently, 70% of all Pennsylvanians and 83% of adults have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the CDC. About 56% of the total population and 66.8% of adults are fully vaccinated.
In Lehigh County, 64.5% of residents have at least one shot and 58.9% are fully vaccinated. In Northampton County, 61.6% of people have at least one shot and 56% are fully vaccinated.
The county is contending with a coronavirus outbreak of 14 cases at Northampton County Prison. There are currently 596 inmates in the county prison, who are all tested upon intake and also tested randomly. Inmates must wear masks when they leave their cell and anyone on work release must be vaccinated.
Four corrections staff and one vendor employee also tested positive and are currently quarantined. Since the start of the pandemic, 205 inmates have tested positive.
“The Department Corrections has done a phenomenal job at keeping COVID-19 infections low at NCP, but the Delta strain is highly contagious,” McClure said. “Vaccination continues to be our greatest weapon against the virus.”
The prison has held 14 vaccination clinic this year and vaccinated 338 inmates, who all requested shots. The constantly changing population at the prison makes it challenging to reach high vaccination rates. Currently, 278 inmates are fully vaccinated.
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President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a federal requirement that companies with 100 employees or more mandate vaccination or require weekly testing. The measure, enacted under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, will affect about 100 million workers. Some Republicans are threatening to challenge the mandate calling it unconstitutional. The president told them to “have at it,” on Friday.
The Wolf administration on Friday announced five upcoming COVID-19 vaccine clinics at five state parks.
The COVID-19 vaccine clinics will offer either the Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccine and take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at :
- Beltzville State Park (Carbon County) on Saturday, Sept. 11.
- Shikellamy State Park (Union/Northumberland Counties) on Saturday, Sept. 18.
- Codorus State Park (York County) on Sunday, Sept. 19.
- Keystone State Park (Westmoreland County) on Saturday, Sept. 25.
- Nockamixon State Park (Bucks County) on Saturday, Sept. 25.
“The best and fastest way for us to protect the people in our communities who can’t get vaccinated yet – including children under 12 – and to end the pandemic is to get every eligible Pennsylvanian vaccinated,” Wolf said. “That’s why we are putting our efforts into increasing vaccination rates in Pennsylvania communities.”
Second dose visits will be scheduled at the state health center closest to where they live. The shots are free.
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Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.
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