Luzerne County coronavirus hospitalizations higher than a year ago

Luzerne County had more coronavirus hospitalizations the first week of 2022 than it did at the start of 2021, according to the state’s latest early warning dashboard update.

Average daily hospitalizations were 133.3 in the county from Dec. 31 to Jan. 6 last week, an increase of 9.4 from the previous week’s 123.9, it said.

In comparison, the county had an average 121.9 residents hospitalized daily the week of Jan. 1 to 7 last year.

The county’s average was only 3.3 in late July last year.

Due to the new omicron variant, coronavirus cases continue to rise significantly.

There were 3,555 new cases in the county through Jan. 6 last week, or an increase of 1,394 from the prior week’s 2,161 new cases.

As a result, the county’s incidence rate, or number of cases per 100,000 residents, rose from 680.8 two weeks ago to 1,120 last week.

Of those hospitalized last week, an average 14 were on ventilators each day, or 0.9 more than the count two weeks ago, said the state health department’s report posted at www.health.pa.gov.

The county’s positivity rate, or the percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results, jumped from 27% two weeks ago to a new 35.5%.

In the remaining dashboard statistic, the percentage of hospital visits tied to coronavirus-like illnesses in the county decreased from 2.8% two weeks ago to 2.4% last week, it said.

Both the county’s incidence and positivity rates are now higher than the statewide averages.

State numbers

Statewide, there were 137,449 new COVID-19 cases last week, or 55,671 more than the prior week’s 81,778 new cases, the dashboard said.

That boosted the state’s incidence rate from 638.8 to 1,073.7 over the two weeks.

The state’s positivity rate rose from 24.7% to a new 34.1% last week, it said.

Coronavirus hospitalizations grew statewide, from an average daily 4,695.6 two weeks ago to 5,914.3 last week, or an increase of 1,218.7.

The average daily number of hospitalized patients on ventilators also increased, from 577.3 to 618.9 over the two-week period, which is 41.6 higher, the dashboard said.

Finally, ER visits dropped from 2.9% to 2.7%.

Vaccines

Another 952 county residents were fully vaccinated since Jan. 1, which means the county now has 62.7% of eligible residents with all required shots, according to the state health department’s vaccination dashboard at health.pa.gov.

The specifics: 188,473 of 300,742 eligible county residents are fully vaccinated.

Of those already fully vaccinated in the county, 76,016 have obtained an additional booster shot since Aug. 13.

Another 25,031 county residents are partially vaccinated because they did not yet receive both required doses, the dashboard said.

Luzerne County ranks 12th among Pennsylvania counties for its percentage of eligible residents fully vaccinated.

Montour County remains at the top, with 77.6% of 17,182 eligible residents fully vaccinated. Lehigh County is next in line, with 71.4% of 347,373 eligible residents receiving all required shots.

Pediatric vaccines

As of Jan. 7, a total 3,556 county children ages 5 to 11 had received both doses required for full vaccination since Nov. 2, which is an increase of 257 since the start of the year.

Another 1,384 children in this age group are partially vaccinated, the dashboard said.

For comparison, here are the number of fully vaccinated children in this age group in 10 other similarly-categorized, third-class counties in the state that have populations ranging from 210,000 to under 500,000: Berks, 4,309; Chester, 14,240; Cumberland, 4,396; Erie, 3,630; Lackawanna, 3,850; Lancaster, 6,381; Lehigh, 6,399; Northampton, 3,882; Westmoreland, 3,191; and York, 4,067.

Statewide, 175,846 children in this age group are now fully vaccinated, it said.

County efforts

Luzerne County Acting Manager Romilda Crocamo responded to rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations last week by limiting public access to county government buildings and switching more employees to remote working.

An influx in coronavirus patients makes it more difficult for hospitals to address other medical needs, Crocamo said.

“Hospitals are in serious trouble,” Crocamo said.