The Lead

Pa. Health Dept.: 5,071 new COVID cases; More than 2,600 hospitalized

By: John L. Micek - September 24, 2021 12:54 pm

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed 5,071 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the statewide total to 1.4 million since the start of the pandemic. That’s down from Thursday’s tally of 5,489 new cases.

Hospitalizations due to the virus also continued to climb, with 2,641 people hospitalized on Friday, according to the Health Department’s COVID tracking website. Of those hospitalized with the virus, 662 are in intensive care units, and 324 were using a ventilator, state data indicated.

The department confirmed 34 new deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, bringing the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 to 29,064 since the state of the pandemic.

Pennsylvania’s positivity rate remains at 8.9 percent.

As of midday Friday, the commonwealth’s vaccination rate was 68.2 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.