All Weekly Metrics Up For COVID-19 In Chesco: Updates

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — The weekly COVID-19 report from the Pennsylvania Department of Health shows metrics in Chester County up slightly over last week, but holding steady when viewed over two weeks.

In the week ended April 8, 893 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Chester County, this week there were 907, an increase of 14 over one week.

In the week ended April 1, Chester County saw 978 new cases, which means today's count of 907 represents a decrease of 71 cases over the last two weeks.

The COVID-19 incidence rate and positivity rate are both up slightly for the week just ended. Incidence rate rose from 170.1 per 100,000 residents for the week ended April 8 to 172.8 for the week ended April 15, according to DOH. In the week ended April 1, the incidence rate here had been 186.3 per 100,000 residents.

Percent positivity for COVID-19 tests given in Chester County was reported at 8.7 percent for the week ended April 15. Last week, ending April 8, it was 8.0 percent, and the week before, ending April 1, the county's positivity rate was reported as 9.1 percent by the PA Department of Health.

Average daily hospitalizations for COVID-19 rose over the last seven days from 67 to 73.6, according to the DOH report. Hospitalizations were at 47.6 in the week ended April 1 and rose to 67 in the week ended April 8. That metric for Chester County has increased every week since March 25.

The average number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators rose in the week ended April 15 to 8.6, from 7.3 in the week ended April 8.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, 33,594 have tested positive for COVID-19 in Chester County, according to the Chester County Health Department. In that time 754 have died here.

The county's slight increase this week looks a lot like the state of Pennsylvania overall. New COVID-19 cases statewide went from 23,953 last week to 24,394 this week. The state's incidence rate per 100,00 residents rose from 187.1 to 190.5 in the most recent seven-day period.

The surge-and-fall of COVID-19 measures comes as Chester County has opened vaccine registration to anyone over 16, and the county's residents are increasingly vaccinated.

As of April 12, the Pennsylvania DOH reported 101,007 people in Chester County have been partially vaccinated, and 91,085 have been fully vaccinated with Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

Chester County reported 53,630 have been partially vaccinated by the Chester County Health Department and 26,519 people are fully vaccinated by the county health department by April 12. The county's update for this week had not yet been published Friday afternoon.

Read last week's COVID-19 Update story here.

Information on Chester County's COVID-19 vaccine program and online registration can be found at chesco.org/covidvaccine.

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