Health Dept.: Pa. adds more than 12K COVID cases over the weekend; more than 2,700 hospitalized

By: John L. Micek - September 27, 2021 12:28 pm

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed 12,223 new cases of COVID-19 between 12 a.m. Saturday and 12 a.m. on Monday, bringing the statewide total to 1.41 million since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalizations due to the virus also continued to climb, with 2,713 people hospitalized on Friday, according to the Health Department’s COVID tracking website. Of those hospitalized with the virus, 648 are in intensive care units, and 341 were using a ventilator, state data indicated.

The department confirmed 87 new deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Pennsylvania over the weekend, bringing the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 to 29,151 since the state of the pandemic.

Pennsylvania’s positivity rate remains at 8.9 percent.

As of midday Monday, the commonwealth’s vaccination rate was 68.5 percent, the Health Department said in a statement.

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John L. Micek

A 3-decade veteran of the news business, John L. Micek is the Pennsylvania Capital-Star's Editor-in-Chief. An award-winning political reporter, Micek’s career has taken him from small town meetings and Chicago City Hall to Congress and the Pennsylvania Capitol. His weekly column on U.S. politics is syndicated to 800 newspapers nationwide by Cagle Syndicate. He also contributes commentary and analysis to broadcast outlets in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Micek’s first novel, “Ordinary Angels,” was released in 2019 by Sunbury Press.