Allegheny County courts suspend jury trials for January amid dramatic spike in covid-19 cases
Owing to the recent dramatic increase in covid-19 cases in Allegheny County, the county’s Court of Common Pleas ordered that no jury trials will take place for the remainder of the month in any division.
Beginning Dec. 23, daily positive case counts for Allegheny County began outpacing its worst previous day — 1,456 cases registered on Dec. 10, 2020 — on a nearly daily basis. Case counts have been between 2,500 and 4,000 per day — leading up to an all-time, single-day high of 4,264 on Jan. 5.
In Allegheny County, cases in the past week have increased by more than 140% (from 1,060 to 2,574 per day), while hospitalizations are up 40% (from 438 to 613), according to state data.
In Westmoreland County, cases are up 125% (from 203 to 457) with hospitalizations up just 13% (from 83 to 94).
Allegheny County has had 18,016 additional covid cases in the past week, while Westmoreland County has recorded 3,202.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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