Department of Health Provides Update on COVID-19, 473 Positives Bring Statewide Total to 68,186

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Health today confirmed as of 12:00 a.m., May 25, that there are 473 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 68,186. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have cases of COVID-19.

There are 5,139 total deaths attributed to COVID-19, an increase of 15 new deaths. 

Locally in Beaver County we are at 568 positive cases of COVID-19, up 14 from yesterday. 3,406 people have tested Negative, and the county reports 72 deaths, no increase from yesterday.

There are 334,928 patients who have tested negative to date.

Of the patients who have tested positive to date the age breakdown is as follows:

• Nearly 1% are ages 0-4;
• Nearly 1% are ages 5-12;
• Nearly 2% are ages 13-18;
• Nearly 6% are ages 19-24;
• Nearly 37% are ages 25-49;
• 25% are ages 50-64; and
• Nearly 29% are ages 65 or older.

Most of the patients hospitalized are ages 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred in patients 65 or older. More data is available here.

In nursing and personal care homes, there are 14,690 resident cases of COVID-19, and 2,471 cases among employees, for a total of 17,161 at 594 distinct facilities in 44 counties. Out of our total deaths, 3,379 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities. A county breakdown can be found here.

Approximately 5,140 of our total cases are in health care workers.

For the second time within a week, a body has been recovered from the Ohio River near Ambridge. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has details:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says wearing masks while in public during the coronavirus pandemic should not be a political issue. DeWine was reacting on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday to North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s call for “support and encouragement” for those wearing masks since they may be protecting someone vulnerable to the virus. DeWine called those comments “spot on” and said “This is one time when we truly are all in this together.” DeWine earlier issued an order for people to wear masks while shopping in stores but then reversed himself, calling the order “a bridge too far.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has booked back-to-back Memorial Day appearances amid the coronavirus pandemic. Trump plans to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. Afterward, he will head to Baltimore to speak at Fort McHenry national monument. That’s where “The Star-Spangled Banner” was written. But Baltimore’s mayor is unhappy about Trump’s visit, saying it sets a bad example when many residents have been told to limit travel. Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young also says the city can’t afford the cost of a presidential visit when city revenue is declining because of the virus outbreak.

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — State game commission wardens in northwestern Pennsylvania tranquilized and removed a 127-pound bear from an Erie neighborhood over the weekend. Erie police and game wardens were called to east Erie at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday after the animal was spotted in a tree in a home’s backyard. A game warden fired a tranquilizer dart from the bucket of a fire department ladder truck backed into an adjacent yard near the tree, and the bear dropped to the ground from a branch about 25 feet in the air. Wardens said the bear would likely be taken to Forest County and be released.

Pickup driver faces charges in crash that killed cyclist
BELL ACRES, Pa. (AP) — Authorities in western Pennsylvania say a man is faces charges in a hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist near Pittsburgh over the weekend. Allegheny County police say Bell Acres officers were dispatched just before 12:30 p.m. Saturday on a report of a collision involving a pickup truck and a 51-year-old cyclist, who died shortly afterward.  Witnesses said the truck was heading west in the eastbound lanes and struck the eastbound cyclist head-on. Thirty-three-year-old Justin Michael Miller faces charges including vehicular homicide while driving under the influence. Court documents don’t list a defense attorney. a listed number for Miller couldn’t be found Sunday.

SpaceX’s 1st astronaut launch breaking new ground for style
By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first astronauts launched by SpaceX are breaking new ground for style with hip spacesuits, gull-wing Teslas and a sleek, matching rocketship. The color coordinating — white with black trim — is thanks to Elon Musk, the driving force behind both SpaceX and Tesla. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken like the new look. The true test comes Wednesday when Hurley and Behnken climb aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and, equipment and weather permitting, shoot into space. It will be the first astronaut launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center since the last shuttle flight in 2011.

Memorial Day weekend draws crowds and triggers warnings
By CURT ANDERSON and BRIAN MAHONEY Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Memorial Day holiday weekend marking the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. meant big crowds at beaches where the weather cooperated. It also meant renewed warnings from politicians and health experts to be cautious as the coronavirus continues its spread and deaths nationwide draw close to 100,000. On the Sunday talk shows, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said she was “very concerned” about scenes of people crowding together over the weekend.