Allegheny County reports 271 covid cases, 30 deaths

Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 271 new coronavirus cases, as recent daily numbers continue to decline.

Reports haven’t reached 500 cases in nearly three weeks and the county hasn’t reported any 1,000-case days in the past five weeks, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department.

Thirty deaths were reported Saturday, increasing the county’s toll to 1,527.

That’s 74 more total deaths than at the same time last week. Wednesday’s numbers included 33 deaths, the highest report for the week.

The dates of death ranged from Dec. 4 to Tuesday; two of which were from Dec. 23, and 23 more from January.

Of Saturday’s reported deaths, two people were in their 50s; three in their 60s; eight in their 70s; 10 in their 80s; six in their 90s and one over 100 years old. Twelve of the deaths were associated with long-term care facilities.

The county has amassed 71,083 cases of covid-19, according to the county Health Department.

Of the new cases, 247 are confirmed, and 24 are listed as probable. 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 recent batch of samples comprising 1,172 tests was collected from Dec. 18 through Friday. Fifteen positive tests were more than a week old, officials said.

The tests yielded a positivity rate of about 21%. The cases range in age from 3 months to 98 years old, with a median age of 40.

Four new hospitalizations were reported. Officials say 4,589 people have been hospitalized — 355 more than at the same time the preceding week — since the virus was first reported in Allegheny County on March 14. Of those hospitalized, 845 were admitted to an intensive care unit.

Nearly a week into February, Allegheny County has reported 1,444 covid-19 cases, which is an average of 241 per day.

Last month, 15,559 cases were reported — an average of 502 per day.

Throughout December, the county had amassed 25,405 new cases. This represents nearly 36% of Allegheny County’s cases. That averaged 820 per day.

In November, officials recorded 12,608 new cases. December more than doubled that amount.

In the entirety of October, the county saw 3,448 new cases of the virus, which was an increase of 72.3% from September (2,001).

According to the Allegheny County covid website, officials are estimating that more than 23,000 people have now recovered from the virus.

The website counts people as recovered based on one of two conditions: It’s been 32 days since the person was hospitalized for covid-19 and is still alive; or, if they were not hospitalized, 14 days since they tested positive.