14 new cases, no new deaths reported in Westmoreland County

Westmoreland County saw 14 new cases of covid-19 as of Sunday, but no new deaths related to the virus, data provided by state and local officials show.

The county’s total number of covid-19 cases reached 374 on Sunday, up from the 360 cases reported on Saturday.

The death total reported by state officials remained at 19. That number remains lower than the 27 covid-19 deaths reported by Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha.

According to state numbers, roughly 41% of Westmoreland’s covid-19 cases, as well as all deaths reported by the state, can be attributed to nursing and personal care homes.

As of Sunday, 19 nursing home deaths had been reported, and 125 residents and 28 employees across six different facilities had tested positive for the virus in the county, state data show.

The coroner hasn’t added to the county’s death toll since Thursday.

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Bacha’s data shows those who died from covid-19 are between the ages of 61 and 109, with the average age being 82. All those who died were white. There were 14 men and 13 women.

State health officials have said they’re working to reduce backlogs in reporting and other issues that have contributed to discrepancies between local and state figures.

The health department on Sunday reported that 1,550 people statewide had died from the virus. There were 1,116 additional positive cases of covid-19 from Saturday to Sunday, bringing the number of positive cases in Pennsylvania to 41,165.

“As we see the number of new covid-19 cases continuously change across the state that does not mean we can stop practicing social distancing,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said in a Sunday news release. “We must continue to stay home to protect ourselves, our families and our community.”

Levine said: “If you must go out, please make as few trips as possible and wear a mask to protect not only yourself, but others. We need all Pennsylvanians to continue to heed these efforts to protect our vulnerable Pennsylvanians, our health care workers and frontline responders.”