Allegheny County reports 603 new coronavirus cases, 5 new deaths

The number of coronavirus cases in Allegheny County jumped Tuesday after a slight lull over the holiday weekend, according to the county Health Department.

The county reported 603 additional cases of covid-19 on Tuesday and five additional deaths. That’s compared to 920 cases — 400 on Monday and 520 on Sunday — over the previous two days.

Cases in Allegheny County are up about 80% since the beginning of November.

Of the new cases, 466 are confirmed cases from 1,614 new PCR tests. There are 137 probable cases.

New cases range in age from 5 months to 97 years with a median age of 43 years. The dates of positive tests ranged from Nov. 15-30, with six tests more than a week old.

The five deaths occurred from Nov. 18-29. Two people were in their 60s, two were in their 70s, and one was in their 90s.

According to the state’s covid-19 tracking website, 626 Allegheny County residents are in the hospital with the virus, 181 of them in the ICU and 99 of them on ventilators. State officials report there are 927 operational ventilators in the county, with 263 (28.4%) currently in use for all illnesses.

The age groups of the newly reported cases — of which 357 were female and 246 male — are as follows:

• 0-4: 4
• 5-12: 11
• 13-18: 28
• 19-24: 55
• 25-49: 252
• 50-64: 143
• 65+: 110

Since March 14, there have been 29,007 cases of covid-19 in Allegheny County residents, 2,083 hospitalizations and 514 deaths.

The county’s daily PCR positivity rate hit 28.87% on Tuesday to bring the overall PCR positivity rate up to 8.78%.