Positive COVID-19 test results in Pennsylvania continue on a steep ascent.

On Wednesday, Department of Health data indicated there were 1,157 cases state-wide.

On Thursday? That number rose 558 to a total of 1,685 in 48 of the state’s 67 counties.

“The reality is we’re just seeing the beginning of this crisis,” Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday during a press briefing.

The number of fatalities also rose to 16.

A total of 16,441 tests have come back negative.

There remains just one case in Warren County.

“This demonstrates the exponential rise we have been discussing,” Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Thursday.

She outlined that 46 percent of all of the state’s cases are individuals 50 years old and older.

However, she noted that 39 percent of patients are between the ages of 25 and 49 meaning that it is “very important that younger adults not be complacent about their susceptibility to COVID-19.”

Part of the state’s role in this crisis is pushing supplies to frontline healthcare workers and Levine outlined some statistics in that area. The state has distributed 678,630 N95 masks, 207,600 procedure masks, 380,000 gloves, 36,870 gowns and over 44,000 goggles and face protection.

She said the department is also receiving more from federal stockpiles and is scouring the state for potential sources of supplies and said the data “underscores (the need) for us to stay home as much as possible to prevent the spread of this virus… so the health care system has time to prepare.”

“We know our hospitals will face capacity issues,” Wolf said, noting the General Assembly as approved an additional $50 million in funding for the state’s health care system.

“We need to do everything we can to support our front line medical workers,” he continued. “Words are just words. Let’s thank them through our action. When we choose to stay home, we are thanking a medical provider.

“We must act as if we all have it,” he said, as that is the “only way we can reduce the burden on the medical system.

Wolf was asked about the prospect of closing K-12 schools for the rest of the school year.

“I want to keep that open,” he said.

When will we know whether the various mitigation efforts have “flattened the curve?”

“We don’t know when it’s going to flatten,” Levine said. “That’s the purpose of the mitigation efforts. (I) think it’s going to be a very difficult number of weeks.”

Here’s Thursday’s county-by-county breakdown: Philadelphia (402) and one fatality, Montgomery (282) and two fatalities, Delaware (156) and one fatality, Allegheny (133) and two fatalities, Bucks (107), Chester (84), Monroe (67) and two fatalities, Lehigh (63) and one fatality, Northampton (56) and three fatalities, Berks (36), Luzerne (36) and one fatality, Lackawanna (28) and two fatalities, Westmoreland (24), Lancaster, York (21), Butler (19) and one fatality, Cumberland, Pike (15), Beaver, Dauphin (13), Washington (12), Centre, Schuylkill (9), Fayette (8), Adams (7), Wayne (6), Franklin (5), Erie, Lebanon, Montour (4), Columbia, Greene, Mercer (3), Bradford, Carbon, Clearfield, Somerset (2),

There is one case in each of the following counties: Warren, Armstrong, Blair, Cambria, Crawford, Indiana, Juniata, Lawrence, Lycoming, Potter and Susquehanna.