Pa. Health Dept.: More than 4,800 new COVID-19 cases; more than 2,700 hospitalized

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed 4,892 new cases  of COVID-19 on Thursday, up from Wednesday’s tally of 4,570 new cases,  bringing the statewide total to nearly than 1.43 million since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalizations due to the virus also continued to climb, with 2,795 people hospitalized as of midday Thursday, down slightly from the 2,843 people who where hospitalized on Wednesday, according to the Health Department’s COVID tracking website.

However, the number of people in hospital intensive care units rose to 694 people on Thursday, up from 681 people on Wednesday. The number of people using a ventilator rose slightly to 379 people on Thursday, up from 376 people on Wednesday, data showed.

The department confirmed 77  new deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Pennsylvania as of midday Thursday, bringing the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 to 29,400 since the state of the pandemic.

Pennsylvania’s positivity rate remains at 8.9 percent.

As of midday Thursday, the commonwealth’s vaccination rate was 68.7 percent, the Health Department said in a statement.