While COVID-19 cases have peaked, hospitalizations and fatalities in Philadelphia remain at an all-time low.
Credit: Kylie CooperCoronavirus cases have surged in the past couple of weeks in Philadelphia, reaching peak numbers in the city as the winter months draw near.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 2,667 additional positive cases of COVID-19 on Nov. 7, bringing the statewide total to more than 227,000. Daily increases are higher than the state saw in its springtime peak of the virus, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia County alone has reached a total of 43,000 confirmed cases, according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard.
“We’re entering a difficult and dangerous period of this epidemic,” Health Commissioner Tom Farley said on Oct. 27. “Possibly the worst period of the entire epidemic.”
Hospitalizations and fatalities in Philadelphia remain at an all-time low, however, according to Billy Penn. Various factors, such as more younger people testing positive for the virus now than in the spring and increased medical knowledge, may play into the increasingly less severe outcomes.
Children and teenagers comprise a steadily growing amount of COVID-19 cases across the nation, according to the Inquirer, and more than 61,000 new cases were reported among this age group in the week ending Oct. 29 — the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
Penn recorded the fall semester's highest weekly count of positive COVID-19 cases in the week ending Oct. 31 at 107 cases, the majority of which were undergraduate students. For just the second time this semester, the University's positivity rate climbed above 2%.
The national daily case total surpassed a record-high of 100,000 new confirmed cases on Friday, The Washington Post reported.
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