Pennsylvania is averaging around 2500 new infections daily. Across the U.S., new infections continuously top 100,000.
PENNSYLVANIA, USA — COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania and across the U.S. are trending upward.
As cases rise, doctors in southcentral Pa. are warning of the most contagious form of the virus to date, the BA.5 COVID subvariant.
“The variant spreads more easily, it goes from person to person more quickly, and that means we’re seeing more cases,” said UPMC Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. John Goldman.
“In addition, it has potential to escape immunity either from vaccination or natural infection, and so as a result we’re seeing more breakthrough cases,” Dr. Goldman said.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Pennsylvania is averaging around 2500 new infections daily. Across the U.S., new infections continuously top 100,000. That data comes from PCR tests and does not include home tests.
“There are a lot more cases than documented cases. Documented cases are cases with a PCR,” Dr. Goldman said. “A lot of people do home testing and never get a PCR, so you typically will have about three, four, 500,000 cases a day.”
Despite the high number of cases, Dr. Goldman says most people should not have to mask up just yet.
“I do think that if you’re older, sicker, or are of any age, have not had COVID, and are not previously vaccinated you have to be more careful,” Goldman said.
Other experts say you can minimize your risk by following health safety guidelines.
“The virus is the same; it’s still SARS-COV-2 virus,” Dr. Raghav Tirupathi with Wellspan Health said. “It’s still a respiratory virus, so common sense dictates that we do all the right things.”
According to the CDC, eight of the ten counties in southcentral Pennsylvania have low COVID-19 community levels. Mifflin County has medium levels, and only Juniata County is facing high levels.
Tirupathi also continues to stress the importance of getting vaccinated and boosted, “If you have not gotten boosters, this is the time to get it.”
