Officials: Over 1,600 Allegheny County residents tested for coronavirus

There have been 1,614 covid-19 tests performed on Allegheny County residents to date, with the bulk of those tests performed during the past week, according to figures released by the Allegheny County Health Department on Thursday.

That figure includes testing performed by health care providers, as well as community testing — testing performed on anyone who shows up for a test. This also includes targeted testing, which is performed on those who have had known exposure to the virus, are at high risk because of their health status or who have traveled to an affected area.

An average of about 200 people were tested each day over the past seven days, the figures show.

That’s up from about 30 to 50 people tested each day the week before.

Allegheny County added 45 new cases Thursday, bringing the total to 133, up from 88 on Wednesday.

The rise in the total number of cases could be attributed to both an increase in testing as well as the spread of the virus, said Dr. LuAnn Brink, chief epidemiologist for the Allegheny County Health Department.

“Because the positivity has remained fairly consistent, it’s probably a bit due to both,” Brink said, noting that about 8% of tests performed come back positive. “Although we are recognizing community spread at this point. We do have a few cases that I know of without known exposure to an ill individual.”

Of the total cases, 20 people have been hospitalized.

The majority of those hospitalized are over the age of 50, “which is not unexpected,” Brink said.

“We will be working with modelers over the next week to determine the need and timing for surge capacity, in collaboration with our health care system,” Brink said.

County hospitals are not overwhelmed with patients, Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen, said. Gov. Tom Wolf has urged people to follow his stay-at-home order to ensure hospitals do not become overrun.

Age and gender breakdowns of cases released for the first time by the county this week show that there have been more covid-19 cases in the 25- to 49-year-old range than in any other age group.

This is consistent with cases across Pennsylvania, Brink said.

“While most of the illnesses are among middle-aged adults, those 50-plus are having the most hospitalizations,” Brink said. “They have the bulk of the hospitalizations. It’s no different than what anybody else is seeing. We have those most at-risk for a more serious illness and the older individuals.”

Pennsylvania added more than 500 cases of covid-19 to statewide totals Thursday, bringing the statewide total to 1,687.

More than 18,000 people have been tested statewide.

A total of 16 people in Pennsylvania have died from complications related to covid-19, including two in Allegheny County.

Of those deaths, a majority have been patients age 65 or older – about 68%, according to Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. All have been adults.