PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania went down for the ninth straight week.
Across Pennsylvania, there were 850 fewer new cases in the seven-day period that ended Friday than there were the week before.
Statewide, the seven-day average test positivity rate is 1.4%. Under 5% has been the goal, and testing is at a similar level to where it was in the late summer of 2020.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania counties are all under 1%, except for Philadelphia which is at 1.3%.
Montgomery County's seven-day average of new cases is about 13 per day. It hasn't been that low since March of 2020.
Dr. Richard Lorraine, medical director for Montgomery County's Office of Public Health, said the warmer weather helps a bit, but the drop in cases is due to the vaccines.
"We did see a similar drop — well, not a similar drop — a drop last year around this time, but it was nowhere near this magnitude, this significant account," he said.
Case counts have been plummeting since mid-April. On April 18, the seven-day average of new cases in Montgomery County was 318.4. Now it's about 13.
Lorraine said the vaccine is interfering with the transmission of the virus as about 70% of the adult population in the county is immunized.
"It's not quite at that number we talk about that would acquire 'herd immunity,' where it really interferes with the transmission of the virus completely," he explained, "but it is enough where it really dropped the case load significantly."
The average new case rate per 100,000 people in each of the five Southeastern Pennsylvania counties is two or lower.