Allegheny County again tops Pa. in new coronavirus cases

Allegheny County on Friday reported 967 new coronavirus cases, more than any other Pennsylvania county. Philadelphia ranked second, reporting 611 new cases.

The new cases were the highest reported in the county in about a week but still well short of the record 1,322 reported Dec. 11.

Over the past month, Allegheny County has often led the state with most new cases reported. The seven-day average is up to 711 cases, the highest it has been in the past two weeks.

In the past 30 days, Allegheny has added 24,525 cases. In that same time, Philadelphia — the state’s most populous county — added 20,807.

Of the new cases in Allegheny, 586 are listed as confirmed from 2,131 new PCR tests and 381 are probable, according to the county Health Department. The dates of the positive tests ranged from Dec. 15 to Thursday. Sixteen of the positive tests are more than a week old, the Health Department reports.

The county has a recorded a total of 59,339 cases since March, with 47,823 of those confirmed. There have been 310,441 people who tested negative and 19,885 recoveries have been recorded.

Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

There were 11 new reported deaths attributed to covid in the county. One death was in December, the others in January. One person was in their 50s. Two people were in their 70s. Seven people were in their 80s. One person was in their 90s. Two deaths were associated with long-term care facilities, according to the county Health Department. There have been 1,077 covid-related deaths in the county since March.

The county has 589 people currently hospitalized for covid-19, the fewest since late November, and has seen a total of 3,348 hospitalizations since the pandemic began.