New cases of covidus continue to decline in Allegheny County

Allegheny County continues to see a drop in the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths associated with covid-19.

The county added 394 new cases of coronavirus in the past two days, according to the county health department. This is over 12% fewer new cases than a week ago (450) and over 50% fewer than a month ago (796).

Among the new cases, officials said 275 were confirmed by 2,056 PCR tests carried out from Jan. 2 through Sunday. Officials reported that three of the positive tests were more than a week old.

Officials said 119 of the new cases were 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 seven-day case average has fallen to 267, while the seven-day case total stands at 1,866. Each of those numbers has not been this low since November 10.

The new cases ranged from 4 months to 94 years, with a median age of 39 years.

The age distribution of the most recent cases – 198 women, 196 men – is as follows:

• 0 to 4 years old: 8
• From 5 to 12 years old: 21
• 13 to 18 years old: 24
• 19 to 24 years old: 30
• 25 to 49 years old: 173
• 50 to 64: 78
• 65 and over: 59

Officials report that the age of a case is not known at this time.

Some reports have pointed out that covid testing has been declining in recent months. Although the data confirms this, this does not appear to be the reason the number of new cases is decreasing.

As of mid-December, Allegheny County’s seven-day PCR test average was about 2,500 tests per day. By mid-January, that number had fallen to closer to 1,900 per day. By mid-February it had dropped to about 1,100 per day. However, the percentage of those PCR tests coming back positive has also steadily declined. In mid-December the average positivity rate was 30%, in mid-January 26%, and currently it is around 18%.

Health officials reported that there had been no new deaths related to covidus in the past two days, leaving the county’s death toll at 1,583. In the first 15 days of February, the county reported 130 deaths, 43% less than what was reported in the first 15 days of January (228).

The state health department reported on Monday that there had been three new covid-related deaths in Allegheny County in the past two days, bringing the state’s total deaths in the county to 1646. The gap between county and state is attributed to different reporting methods.

Health officials report that 85,265 county residents have received at least one dose of a covid vaccine, while 40,842 people have received both vaccines.

Despite a slight increase in the number of people in hospital for covid, Allegheny County’s average seven-day hospital stay is down to 239 – a point that has not been the case since November 14 (237 ).

Currently, according to the Open Data PA website, 223 residents of Allegheny County are hospitalized for covid-19, including 58 in intensive care units and 20 on ventilators.

Since the start of the pandemic last spring, Allegheny County has recorded 73,399 cases of the coronavirus, of which 57,794 were confirmed by PCR tests and 15,605 of them considered probable cases.

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