Allegheny County rises to medium level of covid spread

Allegheny County’s covid-19 cases and hospitalizations rose high enough this week to put the county back into the medium level in terms of community transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC calculates a county’s transmission level — low, medium or high — by looking at the rate of new covid-related hospital admissions, the percentage of hospital beds occupied by covid patients and the rate of new cases.

In Allegheny County, the rate of new cases per 100,000 people is 216.2, the rate of new admissions is 9.2 and 4% of inpatient beds are occupied by confirmed covid patients, according to the CDC.

The medium level means those at high risk for severe illness are encouraged to take precautions and discuss with their doctor whether they should wear a mask.

It has been nearly two months since cases have reached this level in Allegheny County. The county health department reported just more than 2,600 cases in the past week. That’s about 375 new cases a day, up from an average of 311 a day the week before.

Hospitalizations in the county have fluctuated over the past several weeks: 46 over the past week, 145 a week prior and 97 the week of June 30 through July 6.

A majority of Allegheny’s neighboring counties have moved into the medium or high level of transmission. Washington County is in the high level, and Beaver and Butler fall into the medium level.

Westmoreland County remains in the low level, according to the CDC.

The county recorded 661 new cases from July 20 to 26 — about 94 cases each day. Those numbers are up just more than 25% from the previous week.