Pennsylvania reports 61 more covid-19 deaths; 69% of deaths linked to nursing homes

Pennsylvania reported 61 more covid-19 deaths and 989 newly confirmed cases as of Saturday morning, bringing the state’s total number of cases to more than 61,600.

Hospitals are treating 1,887 patients with the disease, and 409 of those patients are on ventilators. Another 18 patients are on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, life support machines.

A total of 4,403 people who tested positive for covid-19 have died from the disease, state health department data show.

Fifty-two of the newly reported deaths happened at nursing homes or other long-term care facilities. Nursing homes account for about 25% of total cases statewide, or more than 15,300 cases, and 69% of all deaths, or 3,043.

More than 4,400 covid-19 cases have involved health care workers.

The updates come as Allegheny, Westmoreland and 11 other counties moved into the yellow phase of the state’s red/yellow/green reopening plan Friday. Gov. Tom Wolf said 12 more counties will make the move next week, including Beaver County.

“As counties move from red to yellow, we need all Pennsylvanians to continue to follow the social distancing and mitigation efforts in place,” Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said in a statement. “I am proud of the work that Pennsylvanians have done so far, but we cannot stop now, we must continue to take the necessary steps to protect ourselves from covid-19.”

On Friday, the state reported 986 newly confirmed cases and 124 new deaths.

About 266,000 patients have tested negative. Less than 3% of Pennsylvania’s population has been tested.

No children in Pennsylvania have died from the disease.

Age breakdown of positive cases:

0-4: ​< 1%

​5-12: ​< 1%

​13-18: ​2%

​19-24: 6%

​25-49: ​37%

​50-64: ​26%

​65+: ​29%

Hospitalization rate by age group:

​0-29: ​2%

30-49: 5%

50-64: 10%

​65-79: 20%

​80+: 19%

The state has updated an interactive map that allows users to search for cases by county and ZIP code.