UPDATE | COVID-19 Delta strain progresses more slowly in state, area infection rates decline | Coronavirus

When it comes to the highly contagious Delta strain of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, Pennsylvania lags much of the country.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Infection announced that the Delta strain is now a dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus circulating in the United States, accounting for 51.7% of all new cases analyzed.

Although the CDC has not updated regional data for the last two-week period, the June 19 report showed that its region which includes Pennsylvania had just a third of the prevalence of Delta as a national report. The report estimated 10.7% of cases were Delta strain, up from 3.8% for the two weeks ending June 5.

Nationally, the Delta strain was 30.4 on June 19, up from 10.1 on June 5.

CDC Region 2 includes Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, and Virginia.

Pennsylvania Department of Health spokeswoman Maggi Barton said the advance of the Delta variant illustrates the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

“The potential threat from Delta and all of the other variants underscores the importance for all eligible people to be fully immunized,” Barton said.

An article updated Friday by Yale Medicine also highlighted the value of the Delta strain vaccine, noting that the variant progresses faster in areas with low vaccination rates.

Dr F. Perry Wilson, epidemiologist at Yale Medicine, said the Delta strain spreads 50% faster than the Alpha strain, which was the dominant strain here. The Alpha strain is 50% more contagious than the original coronavirus strain, he added.

“In a completely unmitigated environment – where no one is vaccinated or wears a mask – it is estimated that the average person infected with the original strain of coronavirus will infect another 2.5 people,” Wilson said in the report. Yale Medicine. “In the same environment, Delta would spread from one person to maybe 3.5 or 4 other people.”

For now, state and local COVID-19 data remains relatively stable.

Although the state’s COVID-19 infection rate edged up this week, rates fell in most counties in the region, the Department of Health reported.

Statewide, 1.2% of all COVID-19 tests in the past seven days were positive for the coronavirus, up from 1.1% the week before.

The state’s weekly early warning system dashboard update on Friday showed positivity rates plummeted in Cambria, Somerset, Bedford, Center and Westmoreland counties and increased in counties of Blair, Clearfield and Indiana.

The rates were 0.4% in Cambria, 0.9% in Somerset, 0.8% in Bedford, 1.2% in Blair, 0.4% in Indiana, 3.2% at Clearfield, 0.9% at Center and 1.2% at Westmoreland.

There were 18 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the eight-county area on Friday and 230 new positive cases statewide, bringing Pennsylvania’s total to 1,213,773 cases.

There were no additional deaths in the eight counties and eight statewide deaths on Friday – bringing the state total to 27,737 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

In the 66 counties covered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, vaccine suppliers have administered 11,818,299 doses and 5,484,027 people are now fully immunized. 1,301,486 others are partially covered, after receiving one dose of a two-dose vaccine.

Philadelphia has its own health department which oversees vaccine distribution. It doesn’t update the data every day, but Thursday’s report showed 1,741,113 doses administered, 702,582 people fully vaccinated and 182,192 people partially vaccinated.

Randy Griffith is a multimedia reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 532-5057. Follow him on twitter @ PhotoGriffer57.