New number of Covid cases in Allegheny County declines slightly



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After a week of staggering new daily reports of covid cases, Allegheny County has added 920 more cases in the past two days, according to the Department of Health.

The county added a record 869 new cases on Friday. As of Thursday, 773 new cases were announced. The two-day total was 1,642 – a record. In contrast, Sunday-Monday’s total was a drop of nearly 44%.

In a report released on Monday, health officials said 520 new cases were added on Sunday and 400 on Monday.

While any drop in new cases of covid is welcome, the news doesn’t necessarily indicate waning concern.

The plunge was anticipated by researchers from the Covid Tracking Project. In a blog post last week, journalist / researcher Erin Kissane wrote that around Thanksgiving, “the measurements will flatten or drop, possibly for several days. … Holidays, like weekends, lead to a drop in testing and reporting, and then, a few days later, a “catch-up”. The Tracking Project is a voluntary organization launched from the Atlantic.

Despite the lower number of cases, Allegheny County recorded the highest number of new cases in Pennsylvania in the past two days (920). Philadelphia, which typically has the most new cases of covidus on the day, has registered just 868 new cases since Saturday.

Of the new cases, 902 were confirmed by 3,339 PCR tests from November 6 to 29 – a positivity rate of 27%. Of these tests, 143 are older than a week.

On Monday, the county updated its breakdown of covid cases for neighborhoods and municipalities. Plum was the region with the most new cases (168) last week, followed by Penn Hills (152), Ross (132), Whitehall (118), South Fayette (116) and Mt. Lebanon (107). There were 13 regions without a new case last week.

Eighteen 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 age of new cases ranges from 3 weeks to 98 years, with a median age of 42 years. The total number of new cases over seven days is 4,321.

Health officials have reported that there have been four new deaths in the past two days. The deaths occurred from November 16 to 28. Three of them were 70 years old and one 80 years old.

Among the latest cases – 482 women, 438 men – the age distribution is:

  • From 0 to 4 years 6
  • From 5 to 12 years old: 23
  • 13 to 18 years old: 42
  • 19 to 24 years: 115
  • 25 to 49 years old: 316
  • 50 to 64 years old: 209
  • 65 and over: 209

Over the past 10 days, hospitalizations of people with covid-19 in Allegheny County have increased by nearly 59%. Patients who are transferred to intensive care units have increased by almost 28% during the same period.

According to the state’s covid-19 tracking website, 611 Allegheny County residents are in hospital with the virus, 171 of them in intensive care and 90 of them on ventilators. State officials report that there are 928 ventilators operational in the county, of which 252 (27.1%) are currently in use for all illnesses.

To date, the county reports that 2015 residents have been hospitalized with the virus, with 58 new hospitalizations announced during the last two days.

Allegheny County covid website reports findings 14 289 cases – with 13,780 recovered and 509 deaths. The current recovery rate for successful cases is over 96%. According to county estimates, there are around 14,115 cases of covid-19 with no suspected outcome at this time.

Cases are considered “cured” after 32 days since the person was hospitalized for covid-19 and did not die, or if they were not hospitalized within 14 days of testing positive.

Three other employees at Allegheny County Jail have tested positive since the end of last week. To date, 39 workers have tested positive, with 21 recoveries. The county has tested 194 workers to date, with seven pending tests among the workers. There have been no new positive cases among detainees for several months. To date, 654 inmates have been tested, with 38 positives and 610 negatives and some tests are still pending. All COVID-positive inmates have recovered or have been released.

At 4 p.m. on Thursday, the Allegheny County Jail Supervisory Board will hold a virtual meeting, which will be available to the public live online. Citizens can submit their comments and questions online to the Prison Oversight Board no later than noon on Wednesday. The meeting link will be available on the county jail’s web page.

Since the pandemic began in March, 24,576 residents in the county have tested positive for the virus, 259,157 of which have been reported negative, meaning 8.6% of those PCR tests have been positive.

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

Categories:
Allegheny | Coronavirus | Local | Best Stories



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