The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Sunday there are 1,215 additional positive cases of the coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 32,284 across the commonwealth. The number of new cases reported was a little more than 400 less than the 1,628 reported the day before.

However, there was a significant increase in the number of deaths reported statewide overnight — going from 80 new deaths reported Saturday, to 276 reported Sunday — nearly 3.5 times the number reported just one day earlier.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine attributed the sharp increase in the number of deaths to the state now reporting electronic and probable-cause deaths.

“We have been working to reconcile our data with information from several different sources, including our NEDSS reporting system and our county and municipal health departments,” Levine said in a news release. “This is the cause of the increase in deaths we are reporting today. This work takes time and so the increase in deaths today reflects the culmination of that effort, which will continue moving forward. The majority of these deaths did not occur overnight.”

Levine stressed that mitigation efforts such as social distancing are working and that the goal of the department is to continue to provide as much data as possible in a timely manner.

“COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise in Pennsylvania, so now is not the time to become complacent,” Levine said. “We must continue to stay home to protect ourselves, our families, our community. If you must go out, please make as few trips as possible and wear a mask to protect not only yourself, but other people as well. We need all Pennsylvanians to continue to heed these efforts to protect our vulnerable Pennsylvanians, our health care workers and frontline responders.”

Slight decrease

Closer to home, Butler Memorial Hospital reports a slight decrease overnight in the number of inpatients being treated at the hospital.

According to data released Sunday morning by Jana Panther, spokeswoman for Butler Health System, the local hospital now has seven inpatients being treated for coronavirus-related symptoms, down four from 11 on Saturday. Also down is the number of patients being treated in the hospital’s ICU, going from two on Saturday to just one Sunday.

Of the hospital’s 28 available ventilators, four are in use but not by COVID-19 patients.

Face mask requirement

The announcement of COVID-19 statistics comes just hours before the order by Gov. Tom Wolf that all employees in and customers of essential businesses wear masks on the premises takes effect to help slow the spread of virus. Enforcement of the order is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Many commercial buildings that serve the public will now be required to make sure customers wear masks — and deny entry to anyone who refuses without a medically valid reason — under an order signed last week by the state health secretary.

Employees also must wear face coverings, including those who work in warehouses, manufacturing facilities and other places that remain in business but aren’t open to the public.

The mask mandate was included in a wide-ranging order aimed at governing many aspects of how a business operates — from how it arranges its break room to how many patrons it can allow inside at any one time.

Wolf said the latest order is meant to protect supermarket cashiers, power plant operators and other critical workers who can’t stay home and are at heightened risk of contracting COVID-19.

“Our essential workers have stepped up to the plate and are keeping us safe, healthy, fed and sheltered during this time, and we all need to thank them (by) doing everything we can to prevent ourselves from spreading the virus to them,” Wolf said in a video conference last week.

Panther said BHS officials are awaiting clarity, guidelines and directives from state and federal health officials regarding the reopening of services. The regional hospital system announced last week the formation of a committee comprised of hospital officials and medical staff charged with developing a framework for when BHS could reopen services and what that would look like.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.