Despite drop in new cases, Allegheny County's record covid numbers continue

After posting record high daily covid-19 cases last week, Allegheny County saw a slight reprieve in the numbers over the past two days.

The county health department reported 854 new cases Sunday and another 616 cases Monday. While encouraging, officials have long cautioned that weekend numbers generally run lower because of testing delays.

Despite the slight downturn, the county still posted its highest seven-day total (5,717) and highest seven-day average (817) of cases. In fact, Sunday-Monday’s 1,470 new cases combo was 60% higher than last week’s (920).

Among the new covid cases, 852 were confirmed from a PCR test from Sunday’s report, 609 confirmed Monday. Among the 4,661 PCR tests in the report, 24 confirmed tests were more than a week old, and one was from May 28. The new cases range in age from 1 week to 102 years, with the median age being 46.

To date, there have been 34,121 cases of the coronavirus recorded in Allegheny County.

The county announced four new covid-related deaths that occurred on Dec. 5 and 6. Two of the people that died were in their 60s, one was in their 70s and one in their 90s. One of the four deaths was associated with a long-term care facility.

Hospitalizations continue to be a big story in the county. The state’s covid-19 tracking website reports 731 county residents are currently in facilities — a 28% increase since last Monday (570). More shocking, the number of Allegheny County residents in the hospital for covid (145) has gone up over 400% since Nov. 1.

Currently, the state reports only about 16% of the county’s adult medical hospital beds are available and just 11% of ICU beds are open.

Among those hospitalized, 210 are in the ICU and 115 on ventilators. State officials report there are 917 operational ventilators in the county, with 289 (27.1%) currently in use for all illnesses.

To date, the county reports that 2,247 residents have been hospitalized for the virus, with 36 new hospitalizations announced over the past two days.

The age groups among the new cases — 803 females, 667 males — break down as follows:

• Ages 0-4: 17
• Ages 5-12: 23
• Ages 13-18: 71
• Ages 19-24: 144
• Ages 25-49: 545
• Ages 50-64: 340
• Ages 65 and over: 330

Allegheny County’s covid website is reporting outcomes in 15,287 cases — with 14,708 assumed to be recovered and 579 deaths. The current recovery rate for those whose case has an outcome is more than 96%. According to county estimates, there are about 18,834 covid-19 cases without an assumed outcome yet.

Cases are considered to be “recovered” after it’s been 32 days since the person was hospitalized for covid-19 and not deceased, or if they weren’t hospitalized within 14 days of testing positive.

Three new covid cases have been found in Allegheny County jail inmates over the past week. A total of 681 inmates have been tested, with 41 positive cases and nine tests still pending. Two of those inmates are still in the jail, while 39 have either recovered or been released. Among employees, there have been 50 positive cases out of 212 tests, with three still pending. Of the positive cases, 23 have recovered.

Since the pandemic began in March, 24,576 county residents have had positive PCR tests for the virus, with 259,157 reported negative — meaning 8.6% of those PCR tests have been positive.