Pa. Health Dept: 5,489 new COVID cases; more than 2,500 hospitalized

By: John L. Micek - September 23, 2021 1:56 pm

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed 5,489 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the statewide total to more than 1.39 million since the start of the pandemic. That’s up from Wednesday’s tally of 4,394 new cases.

Hospitalizations due to the virus also continued to climb, with 2,553 people hospitalized on Thursday, according to the Health Department’s COVID tracking website. Of those hospitalized with the virus, 633 are in intensive care units, and 311 were using a ventilator, state data indicated.

The department confirmed 32 new deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, bringing the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 to 29,030 since the state of the pandemic.

Pennsylvania’s percent positivity rate remains at 8.9 percent.

As of midday Thursday, the commonwealth’s vaccination rate was 68 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.