Allegheny County reports 1,166 new covid cases, 2nd-highest daily tally

Allegheny County on Thursday reported its second-highest number of cases recorded in a single day with 1,166. This raises the total cases since March to 36,707.

The county’s seven-day case average climbed to a record 881, and the seven-day case total recorded a new high of 6,164.

Of the new cases, 1,090 are confirmed from 3,302 PCR tests and 76 are listed as probable cases, according to the county Health Department. The positive tests were administered between Nov. 23 and Dec. 9. Seventeen of those tests are more than a week old.

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.

The new cases infected patients who range in age from 2 months to 101 years. The median age is reported to be 44 years.

The county recorded six additional covid-related deaths that occurred between Nov. 18 and Dec. 9. Three of these people were in their 70s, two in their 80s and one was in their 90s. Five of the deaths are associated with long-term care homes. The coronavirus death toll in the county is now 625.

There have been 2,392 patients hospitalized for covid-19 in the county since March with 846 people currently in the hospital.

Allegheny’s daily PCR positivity rate is 33.01% and the county’s overall rate is 10.37%.