Allegheny County shows drop in new covid cases for fourth day in a row

For the fourth day in a row, the Allegheny County Health Department released a new, lower covid-19 case count.

The county added 71 new cases on Monday, making it the third day in a row that the number was in the 1970s. The results come from 944 tests administered August 11-16. All positive cases have been confirmed.

New cases range from 1 month to 97 years, with a median age of 47 years.

In the first 17 days of August, the county added 1,410 covid-19 cases, up from 3,230 in the first 17 days of July – just over 56% fewer new cases.

Of the new cases, 34 were males and 37 were females. The majority of new cases (25) were residents aged 65 and over, followed by 50-64 years (18 cases) and 25-49 years (13).

Two new deaths have been added to Allegheny County’s list of 290 people who have died from covid-19 related illness. The newly reported deaths are for one in their 80s and one in their 90s, whose dates of death are August 6 and 7.

The county continues to update its hospitalization information, adding 72 cases. However, officials said many of the “new” cases dated back to the end of June.

According to the state’s covid-19 tracking website, there are currently 101 Allegheny County residents in hospital for the virus, including 23 on ventilators. In all, 870 people have been hospitalized for covid-19.

There were 136,464 people tested for covid-19 in Allegheny County, of which 6.96% tested positive.

The county’s website says there have been results in 6,693 cases – where 6,403 are believed to be recovered and 290 have died. This makes the recovery rate of 95.7% in cases with a result. Of the county’s 9,504 total covid-19 cases, 2,811 cases remain with no suspected outcome.

The website counts individuals recovered based on one of the following two conditions: It has been 32 days since the individual was hospitalized for covid-19 and was not deceased; or, if they have not been hospitalized, 14 days since they tested positive.

Officials report that two other inmates at Allegheny County Jail have tested positive for covid-19 since last week, for a total of 37 so far. Three covid-19 positive inmates remain at the facility, 34 of them having recovered or being released. A total of 382 detainees were tested, of which 341 were negative.

Of the prison staff, 103 have been tested, with 11 positive, 90 negative and two pending tests. Nine prison workers have recovered.

As always, state and county health officials are urging residents to wear masks, wash their hands and maintain a physical distance from others to keep the community safe.

Chris Pastrick is a digital producer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Chris at 412-320-7898, [email protected] or via Twitter .