MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — Monroe County tacked on 113 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.
Positive tests and hospitalizations are up in this part of the Poconos.
"We are, as a lot of parts of the state, seeing an increase of COVID positive tests coming back. Our hospitalizations are also up as well. We know that obviously this COVID virus is still alive and well in Pennsylvania," said Dr. Jonathan Goldner, associate chief medical officer at Lehigh Valley Hospital Pocono in East Stroudsburg.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Pennsylvania, but according to the state health officials, COVID-19 testing across the Commonwealth has decreased.
Dr. Jonathan Goldner says his hospital is not seeing a decrease in testing.
"We are still seeing a significant amount of people coming in for testing," said Dr. Goldner.
Over at St. Luke's Monroe Campus, Dr. Robert Dolansky is the medical director for urgent care services.
"We are seeing the overall numbers decreasing, but we are still seeing a lot of people with symptoms who do have COVID. A lot, the percentage of the people we are testing the positivity, is going up even though the total volume we are testing is down," said Dr. Dolansky.
Doctors say testing is an important tool to track the virus, and it's important for people to get tested if they are feeling sick.
"If you know that you had an exposure to someone who is positive, you should definitely be tested, but you can't go running out and get tested right away. If you do have exposure to someone with no symptoms wait about five days after that exposure to be tested. Before five days, you may not have built up enough antibodies to test for COVID," said Dolansky.
Doctors say hand washing, social distancing, and mask-wearing remain key while out in public, even for those who are vaccinated.