Pa. Health Dept: 4,570 new COVID-19 cases; More than 2,800 hospitalized

By: John L. Micek - September 29, 2021 12:19 pm

(Pittsburgh City Paper photo).

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed 4,570 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the statewide total to more than 1.42 million since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalizations due to the virus also continued to climb, with 2,843 people hospitalized on Wednesday, according to the Health Department’s COVID tracking website. Of those hospitalized with the virus, 681 are in intensive care units, and 376 were using a ventilator, state data indicated.

The department confirmed 97 new deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Pennsylvania as of midday Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 to 29,323 since the state of the pandemic.

Pennsylvania’s positivity rate remains at 8.9 percent.

As of midday Wednesday, the commonwealth’s vaccination rate was 68.6 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.