Covid numbers for Murrysville-Export-Delmont area jump 20%

Patrick Varine | Wednesday, December 23, 2020 1:45 p.m.

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

In this photo made on Monday, July 20, 2020, Kiva A. Fisher-Green, center, watches as nurse Ruth John, right, takes a sample from Walter Lewis for a COVID-19 test in the driveway of the Alma Illery Medical Center in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In March and April when Philadelphia and its surroundings became one of the nation’s hot-spots for COVID-19 cases, Pittsburgh seemed at the time, to be under more control: the city racked up a fraction of the coronavirus cases as the other side of Pennsylvania.

The most recent data from the state Department of Health shows 829 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Murrysville area since the pandemic started in March.

Of those, 141 cases were reported in the past seven days, a jump of more than 20%.

The health department on Monday released the figures for the three ZIP codes that comprise the region.

The largest number of cases, 387, are from residents in the 15668 area, which is strictly Murrysville. That represents an additional 60 cases since Dec. 15.

In the 15632 area, which encompasses Export, much of eastern Murrysville and a slice of Washington Township, there were 298 confirmed cases — up an additional 62.

And there have been 144 confirmed cases in the 15626 area, which includes Delmont along with small slivers of Murrysville and Salem, which is up 19 from last week.

Probable cases across the three ZIP codes number 276 since March.

There have been 5,492 negative test results in those areas, figures show. Of the tests administered, 6,321, the region has seen just over 13% come back positive. That percentage has climbed steadily since numbers began rising nationwide in the fall.

Across its five buildings, the Franklin Regional School District saw seven active cases of covid-19, none of which caused schools to close, up through the Thanksgiving holiday. And, despite switching over to remote learning during the week after Thanksgiving, active cases began popping up in all district schools by early December.

School directors joined several other districts last week in once again switching to fully remote learning during the week that will follow the holiday break.

The district has installed a covid-19 tracking feature on its website, FRSDk12.org, under the “Covid-19 Information” tab. As of Dec. 23, there are still seven active cases, with Sloan Elementary being the only school currently without one.

According to the state’s tracking website, in Westmoreland County there have been 13,276 confirmed cases, 4,130 probable cases, 71,531 negative tests and 365 deaths since the outbreak began.

Westmoreland has seen more than 2,500 cases since the start of December. For purposes of comparison, for the first six months of the pandemic, March through August, the county registered 1,815 cases total.

Despite a small spike in late June and early July, the county’s daily confirmed case counts had remained relatively low until a sharp uptick beginning in late September. That number went back and forth, but has skyrocketed far beyond the pandemic’s early stages, reaching an all-time single-day high of 746 positive cases reported on Dec. 10.