2nd Westmoreland County worker tests positive for the coronavirus

A second positive case of the new coronavirus was reported in a Westmoreland County employee on Thursday, according to human resources director Amanda Bernard.

That employee did not have contact with anyone in the 48 hours prior to developing symptoms, Bernard said. She would not say in what department or location that employee worked.

County officials were notified Sunday of a positive test in a courthouse employee, Bernard said Monday. The two cases are not connected.

She would not say in what department the courthouse employee worked. Four other workers who came in close contact with that person were placed in quarantine, she said.

Several cases have been reported at the Allegheny County courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh and county employees at other locations.

In Westmoreland, temperature checks of anyone entering the courthouse resumed on Monday. Employees with Amerisafe Group in Hempfield took temperatures of courthouse visitors from April 8 until early June when their contract expired as Pennsylvania lifted restrictive measures meant to slow the pandemic’s spread.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday reported 35 new covid-19 cases in Westmoreland County. The numbers bring the countywide case total to 952 and 39 deaths. That includes 26 probable cases.