WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen Bob Casey and a bipartisan group of 10 congressional members from Pennsylvania sent a letter Friday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in support of Gov. Tom Wolf’s request for help in dealing with the latest COVID-19 surge.

Casey, D-Pa., said Friday Pennsylvania has reached case counts approaching levels seen during the winter wave in 2020-21. The delegation reiterated Wolf’s request for so-called strike teams, at-home testing and support for rural areas.

U.S. Reps. Susan Wild, Brendan Boyle, Dwight Evans, Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, Chrissy Houlahan, Matt Cartwright, Conor Lamb and Mike Doyle, all Democrats, and Republican Brian Fitzpatrick signed on to the letter.

“In recent days, we have heard from health care providers and hospital executives from every region in Pennsylvania raising concerns about the strain the current COVID-19 wave is placing on the health system,” the letter to FEMA stated. “Frontline health care workers are burned out after nearly two years of the pandemic, exacerbating a nursing shortage that existed prior to the pandemic and threatening the ability of hospitals to treat all patients in need of care.”

The letter notes that patient counts “are so high that numerous hospitals in the Commonwealth have had to start diverting patients, as they are already above 100% capacity.”

As of Thursday, there were more than 4,600 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state, and the numbers are climbing each day. Pennsylvania’s test positivity rate is 14.4%, and the case rate is over 465 per 100,000 residents, indicating extremely high rates of viral transmission.

The politicians indicate federal assistance would help Pennsylvania health care providers to combat the virus and better serve all of their patients.