Pennsylvania posts another day of new covid-19 cases below 1,000

On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 970 new cases of covid-19, the third straight day new incidents were under the 1,000 mark.

Health officials posted 13 new deaths, its lowest new count since Monday, when it added only four deaths. On Friday, the department added new deaths in just 12 of its 67 counties.

The state is reporting 230 deaths in Allegheny County, while the county reports a total of 239 deaths — a discrepancy that’s been credited to different reporting methods between the county and the state.

Allegheny County was again the source of the largest batch of new cases in the state, with 244. Philadelphia County added the second most with 130. Those two counties alone accounted for more than 38% of the state’s new covid-19 cases Friday.

Of the new cases in Allegheny County, 30 cases have specimen collection dates from more than two weeks ago and at least 77 are known to be among long-term care residents and staff.

Officials said 160,671 tests were conducted over the past seven days, resulting in 6,720 unique positive cases.

In nursing and personal care homes, officials said there are 19,484 resident cases of covid-19, with 3,934 cases among employees, for a total of 23,418 at 850 distinct facilities in 61 counties. Of the state’s 7,189 deaths, 4,904 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.

Fifty two counties saw new case counts of 14 or less, while 16 counties posted no new cases at all.

In the month of July, the state saw 25,442 new cases of covid-19, an increase of more than 73% from June (14,680). Over the past 31 days, Pennsylvania has averaged about 821 new cases per day, as opposed to June when the average was 489 per day.

When it comes to deaths, it’s another story. In July, the state recorded 540 deaths, a 50.6% drop from June’s 1,094 count.

Editor’s note: This story was corrected to correctly reflect the percentage decline in the state’s new death count from June to July.