Allegheny County reports 6 new coronavirus deaths, 14% of cases in health care workers

The Allegheny County Health Department reported six new deaths and 13 additional cases of the coronavirus Monday.

Of the total 79 deaths, 72 are listed as confirmed cases of covid-19, while seven are considered probable.

Those deaths come after the county reported zero new deaths Sunday.

The new diagnoses bring the count of total of covid-19 cases to 1,224. Of those cases, 1,190 are confirmed and 34 are listed as probable.

Of the 1,224 cases, 169 — or about 14% — are in health care workers, county officials said in a statement Monday.

A case is listed as probable when a person displays symptoms of covid-19 and has had close contact with a confirmed positive case but has not had a test themselves. The county health department is including those probable cases to assess community spread.

The youngest person to have died from the virus in Allegheny County was 42 and had underlying conditions, health department officials said.

Of the 213 people who have been hospitalized at some point in recent weeks, 83 have been admitted to an intensive care unit and 50 have required a ventilator.

Officials report that the highest concentration of covid-19 cases in the county has occurred in Richland. There are 70 confirmed cases there, which comes to about 63 cases per 10,000 people.

More than 15,000 people have been tested for the coronavirus in Allegheny County.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 47 new deaths statewide Monday. That brought the confirmed total to 1,597. Another 885 people were diagnosed with the virus, bringing the running total to 42,050.

There were eight inmates and two staff members at the Allegheny County Jail who have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to figures last updated Sunday.

At the Allegheny County Treatment Alternative facility, 11 residents and three staff members have tested positive for covid-19.

The 50-bed male facility is located in Oakland and provides inpatient drug and alcohol treatment, case management, employment and family services.

It is operated by The Program for Offenders, a nonprofit that provides residential alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.

No cases of the coronavirus have been reported among residents or staff at the West Homestead Center, a 56-bed female facility in West Homestead, or the Renewal facility.