Allegheny, Westmoreland report highest new covid case totals since January

Allegheny and Westmoreland counties on Saturday each saw their highest new number of covid cases since mid-January.

Allegheny County added 653 cases, the highest since 670 were added on Jan. 13, while Westmoreland’s 214 additional cases were the most since 277 on that same day in January.

Pennsylvania’s 5,343 new coronavirus cases are its highest since Jan. 29, when 9,643 cases were reported. Saturday’s total for the state may have been even higher because Philadelphia’s case data was not updated.

The new cases in Allegheny bring that county’s total to 87,101, second-highest in the state behind Philadelphia.

Westmoreland climbed to 29,609, and Pennsylvania rose to 1,038,749.

Allegheny’s new cases (653) remained significantly higher than its seven-day average of 412 new cases per day.

Westmoreland’s seven-day average grew to 120, and Pennsylvania’s increased to 4,171.

Allegheny had the most cases in the state with 653, followed by Montgomery (372), Bucks (364), Berks (334) and Lancaster (249). Philadelphia, the most populous county in the state and usually among the highest new cases, had no new data reported Saturday.

In the region, Allegheny and Westmoreland were joined by Washington with more than 100 additional cases.

Here’s a look at totals for the region, with the change from Friday:

• Armstrong: 5,224 (+17)

• Beaver: 13,383 (+68)

• Butler: 15,451 (+80)

• Fayette: 11,352 (+73)

• Indiana: 5,416 (+20)

• Somerset: 7,013 (+30)

• Washington: 15,345 (+102)

Deaths

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 40 additional deaths on Saturday, with four from April and 36 from March. The state’s total rose to 25,188.

The Allegheny County Health Department added two deaths as its total grew to 1,792. Both of those deaths occurred in March, with one associated with a long-term care facility. The state health department added one death to Allegheny County, with the state’s total for the county at 1,821. The discrepancy between the health departments has been attributed to different reporting methods.

Westmoreland added one death as its total climbed to 707.

In the region, Fayette, Indiana and Washington also added one death apiece.

Hospitalizations

Covid hospitalizations increased slightly in the state, rising by 16 to 2,187. There are 422 covid patients in ICUs around the state, with 207 on ventilators.

Allegheny County’s hospitalizations ticked up by six to 239, with 64 patients in an ICU and 22 on ventilators.

In Westmoreland, hospitalizations stayed steady at 22 with four in the ICU and two requiring ventilators.

The state health department has yet to explain its data error that saw hospitalizations in Westmoreland County suddenly drop from 117 on March 17 to 26 on March 18.

Vaccinations

More than 2.2 million people in the state have been fully vaccinated, according to data from the state health department and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

Allegheny County has 232,245 people fully vaccinated, which equals nearly 19% of the population. Another 217,166 in the county are partially vaccinated.

In Westmoreland County, fully vaccinated numbers surpassed 60,000, which translates to 16.6% of the county. More than 50,000 have received their first of two shots.