Elk and Potter counties have seen improvements in rates of community spread of COVID-19, according to the Pennsylvania Health Department.
On Monday, Gov. Tom Wolf and Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam explained that three counties, including Cameron, are now in the low transmission level, while Elk and Potter join 22 other counties in the moderate transmission level. McKean County, and 39 others, remain in the substantial transmission level.
“Following these proven public health practices, our mitigation orders, and most importantly, the resilience of our fellow Pennsylvanians to unite against COVID-19, Pennsylvania is seeing encouraging data relating to less COVID-19 spread within the community as we report lowered statewide positivity rates as well as lowered case counts,” Wolf said. “While we know there is reduced community spread, it is still important to continue public health efforts across the state. We ask Pennsylvanians to continue to course — wash your hands, practice social distancing, and wear a mask. Additionally, we ask residents to download the COVID Alert PA app, answer the call when a public health professional is calling you, and get the COVID-19 vaccine when you are eligible.”
The percent positivity for the state is 6.5% and the incidence rate is 116.3 per 100,000 residents.
McKean County’s percent positivity rose from 7.2% to 8.5%. The incidence rate was 108.3 per 100,000 residents. There were 19 fewer new confirmed cases during the time frame of Feb. 12 to 18 than in the prior time frame of Feb. 5 to 11.
Elk County’s percent positivity dropped from 5.9% to 4.6%. The incidence rate was 60.2 per 100,000 residents. There were seven fewer new confirmed cases during the most recent time frame.
Potter County’s percent positivity dropped from 11.8% to 5.4%. The incidence rate was 66.6 per 100,000 residents. There were 22 fewer new confirmed cases during the most recent time frame.
Cameron County’s percent positivity rose to 4.1% from 3.6%. The incidence rate was 67.5 per 100,000 residents. There was one more new confirmed case during the most recent time frame.
As of Thursday, the state had seen a seven-day case increase of 14,886 cases; the previous seven-day increase was 20,347 cases, indicating 5,461 fewer new cases across the state over the past week compared to the previous week.
The statewide percent-positivity went down to 6.5% from 8.0% last week.
“As we continue our COVID-19 response, the Department of Health is working with vaccine providers to get vaccine into arms across the commonwealth,” Beam said. “While we do have access to limited vaccine allotments from the federal government, the importance of the proven health practices and mitigation efforts remain important. While we await more vaccine, we encourage people to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by wearing a mask, washing hands and social distancing.”
