The coronavirus has infected another 511 people to surpass 73,000 total cases in Pennsylvania, and another 75 people have died from it, the state Health Department said Tuesday.
The agency has now attributed a total of 5,742 deaths to the virus in Pennsylvania.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher than the confirmed count because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick. About 68% of the people infected have recovered, the department said, while the rate of positive tests is steadily falling to 18% of those tested.
Pennsylvania is currently in the process of a three-step reopening.
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Nearly 6 million people in hard-hit southeastern Pennsylvania are scheduled to shed Gov. Tom Wolf’s tightest restrictions on Friday, including the stay-at-home order that is part of the so-called “red” phase.
Another 3.8 million people live in counties that are under Wolf's least-restrictive “green” phase, or will be starting Friday.
To determine whether a county can enter a less-restrictive phase, Wolf last week said his administration is studying the rate of new cases over seven days, the percentage of positive cases over 14 days and whether outbreaks can be managed with contact tracing.
