The Lead

Pa. Health Dept: 5K new COVID-19 cases; More than 3K hospitalized

By: John L. Micek - October 13, 2021 12:02 pm

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed 5,012 new cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases to more than 1.49 million since the start of the pandemic.

At midday Wednesday, there were 3,031 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Of that number, 678 were in intensive care units, and 362 were using ventilators, according to data posted to the state’s pandemic tracking website. On Wednesday, WITF-FM in Harrisburg reported that available ICU beds statewide had dropped to their lowest point since the start of the pandemic.

The department confirmed 170 new deaths attributed to COVID-19, bringing the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 to 30,228 since the start of the pandemic.

As of midday Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s positivity rate was 9.6 percent, and 69.9 percent of Pennsylvanians 18 or older were fully vaccinated, the Health Department said in a statement.

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.

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.