More Western Pa. counties return to high covid levels; CDC suggests indoor masking

Westmoreland County has returned to a high covid-19 risk level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s one of four counties in Western Pennsylvania with that designation.

Beaver and Butler counties were also recently returned to that level, along with Allegheny County, which has been in a high level for the past several weeks.

At the high level, the CDC recommends wearing a mask indoors at public places and on public transportation.

“With current high levels of vaccination and high levels of population immunity from both vaccination and infections, the risk of medically significant disease, hospitalization, and death from covid-19 is greatly reduced for most people,” the CDC says on its webpage explaining the level designations. “At the same time, we know that some people and communities, such as our oldest citizens, people who are immunocompromised, and people with disabilities, are at higher risk for serious illness and face challenging decisions navigating a world with covid-19.”

The increase in cases may impact local schools, businesses and organizations. Fox Chapel Area School District in Allegheny County announced it would require masks again Thursday evening, though few area schools have made similar announcements thus far.

Johnathan Humme, the owner of Sharky’s Cafe in Unity, said he “isn’t too concerned” about a rise in cases because it “doesn’t seem likely” that infections will return to their highest levels again. Vaccination rates among those who wished to be vaccinated are high, he said, and he trusts his customers will take care of their safety.

If cases do rise to very high levels, Humme said it will be “nothing new” for the restaurant. Sharky’s will continue to persevere and adapt, he said.

“It’s nothing that we haven’t lived two years through,” Humme said. “If something would come back around… we’ve already seen it and we’re prepared.”

Amy Riegner, director of the Murrysville Community Library, said masks are still optional in the library.

“I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon,” Riegner said.

In Westmoreland, the CDC is reporting about 238 covid cases and 10.5 new covid-related hospitalizations per 100,000 population as of Thursday.

That includes an average of 33.7 new cases — confirmed and probable — per 100,000 residents and an average of 118 new cases per day, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. There were 824 new cases in Westmoreland from May 18 to 24.

Allegheny County is showing about 348 new covid cases and 10.5 covid-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, the CDC reported. The county is reporting an average of 611 cases per day, according to its covid-19 dashboard.

From May 19 through Thursday, Allegheny County Health Department said there were 4,386 new covid infections and 92 covid-related hospitalizations. The state’s report on Wednesday said there were 177 hospitalizations in the county; the discrepancy was not explained.

The county reported Thursday there were four covid-related deaths during the period from May 19-26. The county is reporting a total of 3,269 residents have died of covid, while the state reports 3,348. Again, no reason for the difference has been given.

The CDC is currently reporting medium covid levels in Armstrong, Indiana and Washington counties and low levels in Fayette, Greene and Somerset counties.