Health official: Breakthrough cases make up 38% of Allegheny County's cases

Vaccinated residents made up about 38% of Allegheny County’s roughly 20,000 covid-19 cases in October and November, a health official said Wednesday.

That’s around 7,700 cases among the vaccinated, said Dr. LuAnn Brink, chief epidemiologist for the county health department. Brink filled in for Dr. Debra Bogen, the county’s health director, in a news briefing.

“Certainly there were will breakthrough cases,” Brink said, noting that an analysis of such cases will be released by the department in the near future. “Vaccinated people continue to represent a minority of the cases.”

Reinfections — instances in which someone tests positive for the virus more than three months after their initial illness — remain low in terms of the overall case counts, Brink said. Those reinfections make up about 1% of the county’s cases, according to data recently released by the state Department of Health.

Case counts remain high in the county — “higher than we’d hoped for,” Brink said. New case counts had been in the range of 300 to 400 for several weeks, though they’ve recently jumped to an average of more than 600. Nearly 800 new cases were reported on Wednesday.

“Sadly with winter and the holidays approaching, the disappointing data is not expected to improve soon,” Brink said. “This is the time of year people head inside and gather together, and that, as we know, is the exact type of environment that fosters the spread of the virus.”

There have been 67 deaths in the county so far this month. In October, the death toll reached 177 — the third highest monthly total of the pandemic.

Brink and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald urged caution as the holiday season kicks off with Thanksgiving this week.

“Please take the precautions,” Fitzgerald said. “Wear the masks in crowded places, be mindful of being in crowded rooms.”