Westmoreland County reports over 500 new covid cases in 2 days, 3 new deaths

Westmoreland County added another 522 covid-19 cases over the past two days, according to a report Monday from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Of the new cases, 285 were reported Sunday, 237 on Monday. With those additions, the county’s seven-day total surpassed the 2,000 mark for the first time, standing at 2,153 currently. The county’s seven-day average also broke the 300 mark, currently averaging 308 per day.

While no new covid-related deaths were reported Monday — the first time that’s happened since Nov. 13 — there were three new deaths posted on Sunday. To date, the county has seen 242 deaths from covid illnesses.

The total number Westmoreland County cases since the pandemic begin in March stands at 11,414 — with 9,101 of those confirmed via PCR tests.

Of the newest batch of cases, 275 were confirmed Sunday, 230 on Monday.

In a bit of positive news, hospitalizations are slightly down. Pennsylvania’s covid-19 tracking website reports 133 county residents are currently in facilities, a drop of four since Sunday. Despite that, hospitalizations remain strikingly up — there’s been a 24% increase since last Monday (107) and more than 138% since Nov. 1 (56).

Currently, the state is reporting about 13% of the county’s adult medical hospital beds are available and 26% of its ICU beds are open. Among those hospitalized, 17 are in the ICU and 12 on ventilators. State officials report there are 89 operational ventilators in the county, with 21 (24%) currently in use for all illnesses.

From PCR tests, there have been 66,097 county residents who have tested negative for the virus, with a total of 9,101 positive. That makes for a 12.10% positivity rate. At the beginning of November, that rate was at 7.02%.