Surges In PA, 4 States Account For Half Of All New US COVID Cases

PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania is among five states that are behind nearly half of the country's new COVID-19 infections over the past seven-day period, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Michigan and Florida together reported 197,500 new cases — that's 44 percent of the nation's new coronavirus infections, an analysis by NBC News shows. There were 452,000 total infections in the United States over the same seven-day period.

Cases have been on the rise in Pennsylvania, which some experts believe could be the result of the prevalence of more contagious variants. RELATED: Variants Driving New COVID-19 Surge In PA: Which Ones, Where

Pennsylvania's statewide percent-positivity increased to 9.4 percent from 7.6 percent when compared to last week, officials said Tuesday.

To combat this next surge, state officials are urging all those eligible for a vaccine to get inoculated. So far, more than 2 million Pennsylvanians have been fully vaccinated and 3.6 million more have received at least one shot.

“While we see a rise in cases across Pennsylvania it remains critical for all Pennsylvanians to do their part and practice proven public health practices to keep each other safe,” Gov. Tom Wolf said. “Further, as it becomes your turn to receive the vaccine, we encourage you to find your nearest vaccine provider and get vaccinated.”

Nationally, Pennsylvania now has the third-highest estimated presence of variants, following California and Texas, a study from Helix shows.

The most widespread of these more contagious variants, the B.1.1.7 UK strain, is present in Pennsylvania. There have been 431 reported cases thus far, according to the CDC, which tracks the variant on a state-by-state basis. But according to a New York Times report, as many as 50 percent of all cases in the state since Feb. 1 could be due to the UK variant.

As of Wednesday, there have been more than 30 million COVID-19 cases in the United States. Nationwide, more than 58 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, data from Johns Hopkins shows. That's nearly 18 percent of the population.

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