Delta Variant Hits PA

The highly contagious delta variant is spreading throughout pa

A month ago, if you would have told me that there was going to be another Covid surge here in Pennsylvania, I would have politely smiled and agreed that there was always a slim possibility. Major emphasis on slim. Vaccination numbers were going up, new cases were down to levels not seen since the beginning of the pandemic, and life was beginning to return to normal.

Enter the Delta variant, a more aggressive and much more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus.

Fast forward to today. Data released by the PA Department of Health this morning shows 1,505 new cases* reported to the state for the most recent 24 hour period (yesterday – August 5, 2021), more than 15x the 96 cases reported on July 5.

For more PA data, including interactive charts, click here.

Hospitalizations have also sharply risen. In just the last three weeks, the number of hospitalized Covid patients has increased by almost 3x – from 245 patients July 16th to 666 today, August 6th.

Per the CDC, many counties in Pennsylvania, including those in the Philadelphia metro area, now have “substantial” or higher community spread. At these levels of community transmission, the CDC recommends universal masking in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

*This number will likely increase as more cases are reported to the state.

Information regarding Covid has evolved rapidly. I admittedly hadn’t been paying close attention to Delta until recently – I was cautiously (and naively) optimistic that we had rounded the corner on this pandemic. Thanks for your patience as I find and analyze new data sources and purge outdated information from my site.

As always, stay well –