Pennsylvania surpasses 40,000 COVID-19 deaths
Pennsylvania’s first COVID-19 death was recorded on March 18, 2020.
On Thursday, the state surpassed 40,000 coronavirus-related deaths, according to the state Department of Health. Officially, 40,257 deaths have been recorded.
The state also has confirmed more than 2.6 million cases of COVID-19 in the 22 months since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
COVID cases and deaths continue to rise in Washington County, where seven more deaths were reported Thursday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths to 579. Another 331 cases were added, raising the case count to 47,337.
In Fayette County, six more COVID-19 deaths occurred, for a total of 581, according to DOH data. The county tallied an additional 190 cases, raising the total number of COVID cases to 28,114.
The death toll in Greene County, where 74 more cases were recorded, remains at 92. The total number of COVID cases in the county has reached 7,706, the DOH reported.
On Thursday, the DOH reported 16,695 new COVID cases, the largest increase this week.
All Pennsylvania counties continued to see high community transmission of COVID, and the Centers for Disease Control reported that throughout the country, 99.81% of counties recorded high transmission levels.
The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients decreased, with 915 patients currently being treated in the ICU.