HARRISBURG — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania rose by 50 percent to more than 1,600 cases, while record numbers of state residents filed for unemployment compensation, the most in the nation, according to figures released Thursday.

The state Department of Health also said five more people stricken with coronavirus died on Wednesday, bringing the state’s death toll to 16.

Pennsylvanians have filed about 650,000 unemployment compensation claims over the past 11 days as Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled an order for thousands of “non-life-sustaining” businesses to shut down to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Cases

The Health Department said there were 560 new cases, and the 1,680 total cases are in 48 of the state’s 67 counties. The 10 counties, including Philadelphia, where Wolf has imposed a stay-at-home order on residents are home to 80 percent of the cases.

Health Secretary Rachel Levine has said she expects a surge of patients in the coming weeks, with cases doubling every two to three days.

The Wolf administration is putting a strong emphasis on buying time to help get the state’s health care system ready for that growing flood of patients, Levine said.

Jobless Claims

The single highest day for unemployment compensation claims, going back to March 15, was Friday, when more than 90,000 people filed claims.

That was the day after Wolf unveiled an order for “non-life-sustaining” businesses to shut down in an effort to help stop the spread of the virus.

Even before that order, unemployment compensation filings in Pennsylvania and many other states had skyrocketed, underscoring how many businesses had already closed or shed workers.

In the seven days through Saturday, Pennsylvanians filed about 379,000 claims, smashing the record for an entire week in the state. That was also the most in the nation by far, doubling the nearest state as business groups complain that Wolf’s shutdown order was more restrictive than those in other states.

In the four days since then, Pennsylvanians have filed another 271,000, putting the state on course to break last week’s record. Thursday claims were still coming in and Wolf acknowledged that Pennsylvania is “really the epicenter” of the national jobless crisis the outbreak has caused.

A review of weekly data going back to 1987 shows a high of 61,000 in early 2010, when the effects of the Great Recession were taking hold.

Remote Education

Pennsylvania schools that have been closed for nearly two weeks face a new challenge — legislation requiring them to “make a good faith effort” to continue to educate children.

Schools have to submit their plans to the state Education Department, and it’s already causing some to consider creative approaches, according to Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

Among ideas being floated, he said, are to have school bus drivers deliver instructional materials along their normal routes, or to fire up Wi-Fi at school buildings so families without internet connections can download material from the parking lot.