Lehigh Valley sees spike in coronavirus cases
Written by Victoria Scialfa on April 2, 2020
Lehigh Valley sees spike in coronavirus cases
By Jen Rehill
April 2, 2020
The Lehigh Valley has seen a spike in coronavirus cases in recent days — Allentown has 275 cases right now, and together Lehigh and Northampton counties have seen 113% increase in new cases since Sunday. There were also 4 new deaths reported today from Northampton County.
Speaking at her daily news briefing, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said officials are keeping a close eye on rising case counts in the northeastern part of the state.
We can’t tell exactly what the travel patterns are, or why we’re seeing more in that area. I think we’re seeing more because it’s very prevalent, there’s widespread community transmission, we’re seeing more cases,” she said.
Levine said right now there are no plans for federal field hospitals in the region, but the state is working on planning with hospitals in the northeast for a surge of patients, including alternative sites to house sick patients like ambulatory surgical facilities, reopening shuttered hospitals and using hotels for convalescence.
Total cases in Lehigh and Northampton counties now stand at 857. Pennsylvania reported more than 1200 new confirmed coronavirus cases today – bringing the state total over 7-thousand, with 90 deaths.
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