Westmoreland County covid hospitalizations rise, sit at 5th highest in state

Westmoreland County covid-19 hospitalizations increased for the second straight day on Wednesday, with the county having the fifth-most coronavirus patients hospitalized in the state.

The county added four more patients to bring its total to 120, rising from 116 Tuesday and 111 on Monday.

Westmoreland sits behind Philadelphia (249), Allegheny (170), Lehigh (134) and Montgomery (121). No other county has more than 63 covid patients hospitalized. For perspective, Westmoreland ranks 11th in population among the state’s 67 counties.

There are currently three covid-19 patients on ventilators in the county, with four in the ICU.

The county added 74 additional covid-19 cases on Wednesday, according to information released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The county’s total grew to 26,938. Of those newly added cases, 31 are confirmed and 43 are probable.

Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

The county also added three new deaths to bring its total to 676, 12th highest in the state. The county’s death rate per 100,000 residents grew to 193.8, fourth highest regionally behind Somerset (253.2), Beaver (214.1) and Fayette (205.8).

Westmoreland County has 50 nursing homes and personal care homes that have had coronavirus cases. In those facilities, there have been 289 cases among employees and 2,047 cases among residents, with 279 deaths.