Pennsylvania reports 8,545 new covid cases, 267 deaths

Pennsylvania has 8,545 new covid-19 cases and 267 new deaths Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health.

With the new numbers, there are now 622,329 total covid cases and 15,353 total deaths in the state. In December thus far, there have been 260,885 cases and 4,970 deaths reported.

Of the new cases, 5,131 cases are confirmed and 3,414 are probable. Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

Looking back on December, there were 13 days so far this month with 200 or more deaths reported. In terms of cases, there were 19 days where 8,000 cases or more were reported and nine days of 10,000 cases or more. Prior to December, there had been only two days where new reported cases had exceeded 8,000, both of which came in late November.

As of Tuesday, there are 5,995 covid-19 patients hospitalized in Pennsylvania, with 1,174 in the intensive care unit and 715 on ventilators, per the Department of Health covid-19 dashboard. There are 624 ICU and 3,533 medical/surgical beds available, which represent 13% and 18% of those beds, respectively.