Westmoreland struggles to get a handle on covid-19 infections as county logs first death

Westmoreland County officials struggled to get a handle on the local impact of covid-19 infections Wednesday, even as the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced the county’s first death related to the disease caused by the coronavirus.

County officials learned of the death when local media reported on the state’s daily press update. Officials reported six new positive cases in Westmoreland, bringing the county total to 183. The county recorded its first two positive covid-19 cases March 19.

“We have a job to do and part of that is strategizing on where things are happening. This is just another example of the Department of Health not giving us enough information,” said Roland “Bud” Mertz, county public safety director.

The lack of details about the first covid-19 death compounds ongoing concerns, Mertz said.

While the handful of counties with their own health departments have released information about the ages of those affected and maps tracking infections — by municipality in Allegheny County and down to the ZIP code in Philadelphia — the state Department of Health has consistently refused to release anything beyond county numbers.

State officials cited the privacy provisions of the 1955 Pennsylvania Disease Prevention and Control Act in their limited information releases. The state is subject to the law that has been upheld both by the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records and state appellate courts, state health department spokesman Nate Wardle said.

Counties opting to release more information may be interpreting the law differently, Wardle said.

Tracking down information in a county of 350,000 people with three hospitals, a mini-hospital, multiple outpatient facilities, 22 licensed nursing homes and multiple assisted living centers is a daunting task.

An Excela Health spokesman said officials there are unaware of any fatal covid-19 cases at its Frick, Latrobe or Westmoreland hospitals.

Even local results say little, given the proximity of testing sites right across the county line.

Excela had tested 1,500 people for covid-19 as of Wednesday morning, said Tom Chakurda, chief marketing and communications officer.

“We have seen a positive rate of 8.4%,” he said. “As of (Wednesday), we are caring for 18 covid cases and have 14 under investigation.”

While such information is helpful, state Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, said first responders and residents need to know more about where the virus is striking.

“If that death and a lot of the infections were in nursing homes or among the elderly or people with compromised immune systems, it would tell us something about the illness,” Ward said. “If it was in a nursing home, first responders answering calls there need to know that.”

She introduced a co-sponsorship memo last week seeking to change state law to specifically grant the state Health Department the authority to release infection rates by municipality to county emergency management officials.

Ward said the memo has gained traction with lawmakers across the state and hopes to see a bill move out of committee soon.

At the state level, recent numbers coupled with fears that some areas hard it by the virus lack equipment and supplies that are sitting idle or unneeded elsewhere, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday signed an executive order giving him the authority to commandeer and transfer supplies and information between medical facilities to both high-population, high-impact areas and lower population areas that may lack medical resources.

“This will also prevent sick Pennsylvanians from having to choose which hospital to go to for fear that some have less access to equipment than others and it will help us make use of every ventilator, every piece of PPE, and every medical worker,” Wolf said in a press release issued with his order.

Ward said Wolf’s decision reflects the kind of strategic planning officials would like to be able to do at the county level.