Westmoreland, Allegheny covid cases reach totals not seen since January

Newly reported covid-19 cases in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties on Saturday reached highs that haven’t been seen since January.

Westmoreland County added 269 covid-19 cases, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health released Saturday. It hadn’t been that high since hitting 277 on Jan. 13.

For comparison’s sake, Westmoreland’s total for the entire month of June was 317. For all of July, it was 312.

Westmoreland’s total cases for August (1,979) has already been surpassed this month, with 2,340.

Allegheny County’s total of newly reported cases reached 694, a high matched on Jan. 12. (The state had reported 1,321 on April 14, but that high mark resulted in part from one Western Pennsylvania lab reporting three months of data in one day.)

Allegheny County’s reported cases this month — 6,628 — are only one fewer than reported in all of August (6,629). The September tally so far is more than five times the number reported in July (1,270) and more than 10 times the total from June (611).

Overall, Pennsylvania saw 5,617 additional cases Saturday, the third day in a row above 5,000 cases. The state has seen 75,496 cases already this month, passing August’s total of 74,651.

All told, Westmoreland County has had 39,057 cases since the first cases were reported in March 2020.

Allegheny County’s total reached 116,425, while Pennsylvania climbed to just under 1.376 million.

Through Friday, Westmoreland County had 42 covid-19 patients that were hospitalized, with nine in an intensive care unit and four requiring ventilators.

Allegheny’s total hospitalizations hit 283, with 88 patients in an ICU and 44 needing ventilators. In the state, there are 2,337 patients hospitalized with 589 in an ICU and 283 on ventilators.

Westmoreland County also had six deaths added to its total Saturday, with 14 in the past week and 824 overall.

Allegheny County’s death total climbed by two to 2,118, according to the state health department, with 27 deaths in the past week. The Allegheny County Health Department’s total is 2,114 — the two health departments’ numbers have routinely been different.

Elsewhere in the region, every county had at least two deaths reported in the past week: Washington (10), Beaver (8), Indiana (5), Armstrong (4), Fayette (4), Somerset (3) and Butler (2).

According to the most recent data, 46.9% of Westmoreland County is fully vaccinated, with 51.3% of the population having at least one shot. The number of those fully vaccinated climbs to 57.3% for those 18 and older.

In Allegheny County, 58.1% is fully vaccinated and 63.8% at least partially vaccinated.

For those 18 and older, the percentage grows to 71.4% fully vaccinated.