Allegheny County Reports 285 New Coronavirus Cases, 1 Death

Allegheny County recorded 285 new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, a relative increase as cases were on the decline in recent weeks.

Reports have not reached 500 cases in nearly five weeks and the county has not reported 1,000 days of cases in the past seven weeks, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department.

The seven-day average is 233 cases.

One death was reported on Saturday, bringing the county’s death toll to 1629.

This represents 46 more deaths than at the same time last week. Wednesday’s figures included 26 deaths, the highest report for the week.

As of Friday, 18 deaths were reported.

Saturday’s recorded death occurred on December 17. The 90-year-old deceased was associated with a long-term care facility.

The county has accumulated 74,602 cases of covid-19 since the pandemic began in March, according to the county health department.

Of the new cases, 206 are confirmed and 79 are listed as probable. Health officials define a probable case as a case in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or symptoms of covid with a “high risk exposure” to a person who has been confirmed to have a. coronavirus.

The recent batch of samples comprising 936 tests was collected from January 28 to Friday. Three positive tests are more than a week old, officials said.

The tests gave a positivity rate of about 30%. Cases range in age from 11 months to 92 years, with a median age of 38 years.

Ten new hospitalizations were reported. Authorities say 4,749 people have been hospitalized – 86 more than at the same time the previous week – since the virus was first reported in Allegheny County on March 14. Of those hospitalized, 872 were admitted to an intensive care unit.

Almost three weeks in February, Allegheny County reported 5,234 cases of covid-19, an average of 262 per day, down about 18 cases per day from last week.

Last month, 15,559 cases were reported, an average of 502 per day.

Throughout December, the county had accumulated 25,405 new cases. This represents about 34% of Allegheny County cases. This averaged 820 per day.

In November, authorities registered 12,608 new cases. December more than doubled that amount.

In the entire month of October, the county recorded 3,448 new cases of the virus, a 72 percent increase from September (2,001).

According to the Allegheny County covid website, officials estimate more than 25,000 people have now recovered from the virus.

The website counts people who have recovered based on one of two conditions: it has been 32 days since the person was hospitalized for covid-19 and survived; and if they have not been hospitalized, 14 days since they tested positive.

Samson X Horne is a digital producer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Samson at 412-320-7845, [email protected] or via Twitter .