Westmoreland sets new record for daily covid cases
With a total of 273 new coronavirus cases added Wednesday, Westmoreland County set a new daily record.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported the new cases included 206 that were confirmed with PCR tests and 67 were listed as probable.
In the past 14 days, the county has seen more covid cases (2,728) than all of October and September combined (2,657).
It doesn’t appear to be a matter of increased testing that is causing the spike. Westmoreland County’s testing for covid is up 70% since the end of October, with a current seven-day daily test average of 569. However, in that same time, the county’s daily confirmed cases are up a staggering 157%, with a current seven-day average of 144 confirmed cases.
The county saw another seven covid-related deaths added on Wednesday — setting a new record seven-day total of 41 deaths. To date, Westmoreland has seen 179 fatalities because of the coronavirus.
It is the 12th straight day Westmoreland County has posted a covid-related death.
According to the state’s covid-19 tracking website, 81 Westmoreland County residents are hospitalized with the virus — 12 of them in intensive care units and six of them on ventilators. State officials report there are 89 operational ventilators in the county, with 15 (16.8%) currently in use for all illnesses.
To date, the county has recorded 8,159 cases of covid-19, with 6,388 of those cases confirmed through PCR tests.
Chris Pastrick is a TribLive digital producer. An Allegheny County native, he began working for the Valley News Dispatch in 1993 and joined the Trib in 1997. He can be reached at cpastrick@triblive.com.
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