PA Officials Give Coronavirus Update As State Passes 15K Deaths

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania has surpassed 15,000 coronavirus deaths, officials reported on Monday.

The grim milestone was reached after there were 203 new coronavirus deaths reported over the weekend. There were 127 new deaths reported Saturday and 76 new deaths reported Sunday, state Health Secretary Rachel Levine said during a Monday update.

The state's coronavirus death toll now stands at 15,086.

Over the weekend, there was a two-day total of 8,663 cases: 3,779 cases reported Saturday and 4,884 on Sunday. Since the start of the pandemic, Pennsylvania has had 613,804 coronavirus cases.

As of Monday morning, there were 5,905 people hospitalized with COVID-19. That's near double the peak in the spring, Levine noted. Of those, 1,145 patients are in the intensive care unit.

The trend in the 14-day moving average of number of hospitalized patients per day has increased by nearly 5,600 since the end of September.

Meanwhile on Monday, residents and staff members of more than 2,000 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Pennsylvania began receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

CVS Health and Walgreens are the two providers the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services authorized to administer the inoculations. CVS said the company expects to vaccinate as many as four million residents and staff at 40,000 long-term care facilities nationwide.

CVS teams will make multiple visits to each long-term care facility to provide the initial shot and booster. The majority of residents and staff will be fully vaccinated three to four weeks after the first visit, depending on whether they receive the Pfizer or Moderna vaccination.

You can watch the full briefing from Secretary Levine here: