Covid numbers up almost 16% in Murrysville-Export-Delmont area
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The most recent data from the state Department of Health shows 688 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Murrysville area since the pandemic started in March.
Of those, 109 cases were reported in the past seven days.
The health department on Monday released the figures for the three ZIP codes that comprise the region.
The largest number of cases, 327, are from residents in the 15668 area, which is strictly Murrysville. That represents an additional 43 cases since Dec. 7.
In the 15632 area, which encompasses Export, much of eastern Murrysville and a slice of Washington Township, there were 236 confirmed cases — up an additional 40.
And there have been 125 confirmed cases in the 15626 area, which includes Delmont along with small slivers of Murrysville and Salem, which is up 26 from last week.
Probable cases across the three ZIP codes number 195 since March.
There have been 5,257 negative test results in those areas, figures show. Of the tests administered, 5,945, the region has seen just over 11.5% 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, through the Thanksgiving holiday.
The school board voted 6-3 in late November at an emergency meeting to send all students home for remote instruction last week, out of concern for potential community covid-19 spread after families returned from the Thanksgiving holiday.
The district installed a covid-19 tracking feature on its website, FRSDk12.org, under the “Covid-19 Information” tab. After students returned to class on Dec. 4, the tracker listed two active cases related to Franklin Regional Middle School on Dec. 9, and by, Dec. 11, was up to seven active cases, with at least one in every school in the district.
According to the state’s tracking website, in Westmoreland County there have been 11,128 confirmed cases, 3,132 probable cases, 68,638 negative tests and 294 deaths since the outbreak began.
Westmoreland has seen more than 2,200 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 745 positive cases reported on Dec. 10.