Covid cases, hospitalizations drop in Pennsylvania, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties; vaccine rates inch up

Covid cases in Pennsylvania, as well as Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, have slowed to a trickle this month.

June started with an average of more than 700 cases a day in the state and has fallen to averaging less than 200 a day as of Wednesday. In Allegheny County, cases were slowing in May, but have been averaging in the teens in the past week. Westmoreland County has reported a total of 18 cases in the past week.

Covid-related deaths and hospitalizations have also mostly fallen in the last week.

Cases

As of Wednesday’s covid report, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has seen 1,372 new cases of covid-19 in the past seven days, averaging 196 cases per day.

The seven-day average of cases has not been under 200 since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

To date, Pennsylvania has a total of 1,210,820 cases, with 1,013,841 confirmed through PCR testing.

In Allegheny County, there have been 86 new cases in the past week, with the daily average at 12. That’s a 76% decline since June 1 (50) of the daily average.

Of Allegheny’s newest cases, 69 were confirmed in the past week, with 17 considered probable. Since the pandemic began, Allegheny County has amassed 101,801 covid cases, with 77,061 confirmed.

In Westmoreland County, 18 new cases have been added in the past seven days, with the daily average at 3. The daily average in Westmoreland dropped 85% since June 1 (20).

In all, Westmoreland County has seen a total of 34,386 cases, of which 23,108 are confirmed.

Hospitalizations

The number of residents who are hospitalized statewide for the virus is 394, down 71 from last Wednesday, according to state data, with 87 covid patients in the ICU and 68 on ventilators.

Hospitalizations in the state have been falling since the beginning of the month when 989 people were hospitalized.

Wednesday’s figure is the lowest number of people hospitalized for covid statewide since the early days of the pandemic. In September, hospitalizations were down as low as 400, but then spiked again starting in October.

According to the state’s data, 39 Allegheny County residents are hospitalized for covid (down one from last Wednesday), 11 of them are in intensive care units and five of them are on ventilators.

Hospitalizations in the county have dropped since from the beginning of the month. On June 1, there were 109 people hospitalized for the virus.

In Westmoreland County, 11 covid patients (up two from last Wednesday) are hospitalized with three in the ICU and two on ventilators. The number of people in the county hospitalized for covid has been under 20 the entire month.

Deaths

In the past week, the Department of Health reported 81 covid-related deaths in Pennsylvania. The total number of covid deaths in the state is 27,612 since the pandemic began.

Of the newly recorded deaths, 70 were from June, five from May, two from April, two from February, one from December, and two from October. One death was removed from January’s tally.

Allegheny County reported four deaths over the past week, putting its total at 1,976. While the state reported five covid deaths in Allegheny County in the past week, the county’s running total is 2,009. The disparity has not been accounted for by either side.

Allegheny County stated that the four deaths were all people over 65 years old.

Westmoreland County saw one death reported in the past week, bringing its total to 772. There have been six deaths reported this month in the county.

Vaccinations

Over the past week, 133,546 more Pennsylvanians 18 and older became fully vaccinated, bringing the total number to 6,007,112 (59.1%). The state’s tally of that group’s portion with at least one covid shot is 7,587,196 (74.6%).

The percentage of Pennsylvanians 18 and older fully vaccinated has climbed from 54.8% on June 1.

While Gov. Tom Wolf’s benchmark to get 70% of adults fully vaccinated is still a ways off, state officials have said that Pennsylvania’s mask mandate will be lifted no later than June 28.

In Allegheny County, there are 793,920 (64.9%) with at least one dose and 615,334 (50.3%) who are fully vaccinated. Of those 18 and older, 61.7% are fully vaccinated and 79.7% have at least one dose.

In Westmoreland County, 150,469 residents (41.2%) are fully vaccinated, while 179,742 (49.2%) have at least one dose. Of those 18 and older, 50.3% are fully vaccinated and 60.1% have at least one dose.

All Pennsylvanians age 12 and older are eligible for the covid vaccine