27 PA Counties Out Of COVID 'Red' Zone: White House Task Force

PENNSYLVANIA — Twenty-seven Pennsylvania counties are no longer in the "red" zone for coronavirus outbreak severity, according to the latest report by the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

The report, released Jan. 24, classifies 40 of the state's 67 counties as being in the red zone. There are 17 counties in the "orange" zone and 10 in the "yellow" zone.

Several suburban Philadelphia counties have been downgraded out of the red zone, including Montgomery, Chester, Philadelphia and Delaware. Bucks, Berks and Lehigh remain in the red zone.

Counties that are in red zones have more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result of above 10 percent. Counties in the orange zone reported between 51 and 100 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result between 8 and 10 percent.

Yellow zone designated counties have reported between 10 and 50 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result between 5 and 7.9 percent.

The latest report shows a 23 percent increase in new cases statewide from the week before, as well as a decrease in the test positivity rate. The state's test positivity rate stands at 10 as of Jan. 24, the report says. That's a decline of 2.1 percent.

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Pennsylvania are also down. The report notes there were 6,802 new hospitalizations for the seven-day period ending Jan. 22. That's an 11 percent decline from the previous seven-day period ending on Jan. 15.

See the full Jan. 24 report here.