Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

County reports 109 new cases

- By Hallie Lauer

For the first time since Allegheny County reported its first cases of COVID-19 on March 14, the single-day increase is more than 100 new cases.

The county health department reported 109 new positive cases for Tuesday.

That brings the county total to 2,760 — 2,614 are confirmed and 146 are probable. There were no new deaths reported. While the new cases range between 10 and 83 years old, the median age is 26.

The state health department said Pennsylvan­ia’s new total is 86,606. Of the 618 new cases reported across the state, 172 of them were in Western Pennsylvan­ia. Beaver County had

the region’s second-highest increase with 18 new cases.

No new deaths were reported in Western Pennsylvan­ia.

Dr. Debra Bogen, Allegheny County’s health director, said on Sunday more people were being tested for the disease, but the higher number of infections reflected a surge in the virus in the community. That led the county to ban alcohol sales in bars and restaurant­s, starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Allegheny County’s online data show the county had not had a positive test rate of 5% or more since May 24 — with positivity rates of just 1% or 2% most days. Then, starting on June 20 when the positivity rate hit 5% for the first time in a month, it has gone higher since then, hitting 10% on June 25, 9% on June 26 and 11% on June 27. The last time the county had an 11% positivity rate was in mid-April.

The state health department said despite the rise, there are currently no plans to move Allegheny County back into the yellow phase.

According to new data released by the county on Tuesday, there were an additional seven hospitaliz­ations, making the total number 393.

Data released by the state on Tuesday reported an additional 35 COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the statewide death toll at 6,649.

Meanwhile, Philadelph­ia is bringing a halt to its plans to allow indoor dining, bars, gyms and fitness centers to reopen, with officials saying Tuesday the city is seeing rising COVID-19 case counts and could be affected by a growing epidemic elsewhere in the country.

The city’s health commission­er, Dr. Tom Farley, broke the news during a news conference ahead of its Friday target to lift more restrictio­ns, noting the city is seeing more than 100 new cases per day, instead of a count below 80 it had aimed for.

“We want to get the economy going as well, but at the same time, we are very concerned about the epidemic, and we are noticing quite a bit what’s going on around the country,” Dr. Farley said.

Dr. Farley is also asking travelers to Philadelph­ia from places with rising case counts to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Here are the total number of positive cases reported Tuesday in Western Pennsylvan­ia:

• Allegheny: 2,760 (up 109 from Monday)

• Armstrong: 74 (up 1)

• Beaver: 669 (up 18)

• Butler: 307 (up 5)

• Cambria: 80 (up 2)

• Clarion: 34 (no change)

• Clearfield: 72 (no change)

• Crawford: 53 (no change)

• Erie: 607 (up 12)

• Fayette: 116 (up 4)

• Forest: 7 (no change)

• Greene: 41 (up 2)

• Indiana: 108 (up 4)

• Jefferson: 22 (up 1)

• Lawrence: 102 (up 1)

• Mercer: 140 (up 4)

• Somerset: 61 (no change)

• Venango: 18 (no change)

• Washington: 219 (up 3)

• Westmorela­nd: 646 (up 6) Here are the total number of deaths reported Tuesday in Western Pennsylvan­ia:

• Allegheny: 186 (no change from Monday. The state reports 183.)

• Armstrong: 6 (no change)

• Beaver: 78 (no change)

• Butler: 13 (no change)

• Cambria: 3 (no change)

• Clarion: 2 (no change)

• Clearfield: 0 (no change)

• Crawford: 0 (no change)

• Erie: 10 (no change)

• Fayette: 4 (no change)

• Forest: 0 (no change)

• Greene: 0 (no change)

• Indiana: 6 (no change)

• Jefferson: 1 (no change)

• Lawrence: 9 (no change)

• Mercer: 6 (no change)

• Somerset: 1 (no change)

• Venango: 0 (no change)

• Washington: 6 (no change)

• Westmorela­nd: 38 (The county coroner is reporting 32.)

Nursing and personal care homes

The state has released data — organized by county — about cases and deaths at nursing and personal care homes. Here’s informatio­n about Western Pennsylvan­ia, based on Tuesday’s figures, with changes in deaths noted in parenthese­s):

• Allegheny: 44 facilities, 538 cases among residents, 154 cases among employees, 146 deaths (no change)

• Armstrong: 2 facilities, 8 cases among residents, 7 cases among employees, 5 deaths (no change)

• Beaver: 3 facilities, 392 cases among residents, 43 cases among employees, 82 deaths (no change)

• Butler: 9 facilities, 18 cases among residents, 13 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)

• Cambria: 2 facilities, 1 case among residents, 1 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)

• Clarion: 2 facility, 3 cases among residents, 1 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)

• Clearfield: 2 facilities, 2 cases among residents, 1 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)

• Erie: 16 facilities, 42 cases among residents, 49 cases among employees, 8 deaths (up 1)

• Fayette: 3 facilities, 5 cases among residents, 5 cases among employees, 1 death (no change)

• Indiana: 7 facilities, 17 cases among residents, 5 cases among employees, 4 deaths (no change)

• Jefferson: 1 facility, 0 cases among residents, 3 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)

• Lawrence: 2 facilities, 0 cases among residents, 2 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)

• Mercer: 3 facilities, 1 case among residents, 2 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)

• Washington: 6 facilities, 8 cases among residents, 3 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)

• Westmorela­nd: 16 facilities, 144 cases among residents, 43 cases among employees, 29 deaths (no change)

• Pennsylvan­ia: 692 facilities, 17,735 cases among residents, 3,261 cases among employees, 4,539 deaths (up 8)

For additional informatio­n on Allegheny County data, visit the Allegheny County’s COVID-19 Dashboard. More informatio­n on statewide results can be found on the Pennsylvan­ia Department of Health website.

 ?? Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette ?? The Rev. Eileen Smith hands out masks in Arlington Heights on Friday during the Minority Emergency Preparedne­ss Task Force event, which also distribute­d hand sanitizer and informatio­n about COVID-19 virus prevention.
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette The Rev. Eileen Smith hands out masks in Arlington Heights on Friday during the Minority Emergency Preparedne­ss Task Force event, which also distribute­d hand sanitizer and informatio­n about COVID-19 virus prevention.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States