Allegheny County reports 2nd-lowest covid case total in past month

The Allegheny County Health Department on Wednesday reported its second-lowest covid-19 case total in the past month.

The county added 158 new cases Wednesday. Only the 94 cases reported April 26 was lower. It’s also the second-lowest total dating back to March 15, when 124 were reported. The county’s coronavirus case total grew to 98,355.

Of Allegheny County’s latest cases, 119 are confirmed and 39 are probable, with cases ranging from 5 months to 96 years and a median age of 29.

Westmoreland County, on the other hand, added 143 cases, its first triple-digit day in the past five days. Westmoreland’s total climbed to 33,058. State data released Wednesday showed 149 confirmed cases and negative six probable cases. The higher number for Westmoreland, which had been averaging 91 cases a day over the past week, could be explained by data submissions from one lab.

According to the state health department, a lab reported cases ranging from March 2020 to March 2021, with 100 occurring in Westmoreland.

“Our teams are continuously reviewing the data reported to us,” said Maggi Barton, deputy press secretary for the Department of Health. “As cases trend downward, those efforts being done to ensure there are not any duplicates or having the correct address may affect the data you see especially with the testing data.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Health added 2,597 cases in the state, with its total rising to 1,164,216 since the pandemic began. The state’s seven-day average of new cases dropped to 3,020, a decline of almost 2,000 in the past 18 days, when the average on April 18 was 5,006.

In the state, Philadelphia had the most cases reported Wednesday with 210, followed by Allegheny (158), Westmoreland (143), Berks (134) and Bucks (128).

Deaths

The state health department reported 56 deaths Wednesday to see its total grow to 26,390. Of those 56 deaths newly reported Wednesday, 18 are from May, 37 are from April and one is from January.

The Allegheny County Health Department reported nine deaths with its total growing to 1,888. The dates of deaths range from April 21 to May 1 — one person was in their 40s, one in their 50s, four in their 60s, one in their 70s, one in their 80s and one in their 90s.

The state’s health department, meanwhile, added four in Allegheny County to bring its total to 1,913. The discrepancy between the two departments hasn’t fully been explained.

Westmoreland County didn’t see any new deaths, leaving its total at 746. Elsewhere in the region, Beaver added two deaths while Armstrong, Butler and Somerset had one apiece.

Almost 50% of the state’s covid deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities, with 13,149 linked to personal care and nursing homes. Montgomery (1,100) and Allegheny (1,030) are the only two counties with more than a thousand deaths linked to those facilities. Wednesday’s update added 17 long-term care deaths in Westmoreland County facilities, bringing its total there to 315.

Hospitalizations

Covid hospitalizations climbed in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties on Wednesday but fell overall in the state.

Allegheny County saw an additional 12 covid hospitalizations to climb to 201. There are also 56 covid patients in intensive care units and 31 on ventilators.

In Westmoreland County, the total grew by four to 35, with six in the ICU and one needing a ventilator. The state has yet to explain the county’s sudden drop in covid hospitalizations from 117 to 26 on March 18.

In Pennsylvania, covid hospitalizations fell by 41 to 2,131. It’s the state’s lowest total since April 1, when 2,127 were hospitalized. The state currently has 467 covid patients in ICUs and 258 requiring a ventilator.

Vaccinations

Allegheny County has reached 36.42% of its population fully vaccinated (445,578) with another 235,040 who are partially vaccinated.

Westmoreland County hit 30.37% fully vaccinated (110,891) and 44,159 partially vaccinated.

Pennsylvania is nearing 4.2 million people fully vaccinated, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, which report vaccine information separately. That puts Pennsylvania at about 41% fully vaccinated, with Gov. Tom Wolf announcing Tuesday that Pennsylvania’s mask mandate would be lifted once the state hits 70% of the adult population fully vaccinated.