Allegheny County passes 69,000 cases

The Allegheny County Health Department reported 326 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and two additional deaths from the disease.

With the latest reports, the department has recorded 69,135 COVID-19 cases in county residents and 1,453 deaths since the first case in the state was reported in March.

Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday announced 5,191 additional cases statewide, increasing the commonwealth’s total to 839,239. There were 140 new fatalities identified on a state death registry, bringing the death toll statewide to 21,602.

Among the most recently reported cases in Allegheny County, 234 were confirmed from 1,432 new PCR tests, and 92 were probable, according to the county health department. Those infected range in age from 6 months to 97 years, with a median age of 42 years.

The positive tests ranged from Jan. 22 to Friday; six of them are more than a week old, the department said.

The most recently reported deaths of county residents occurred on Wednesday, and both of the deceased were in their 80s, according to the department. The deaths were associated with long-term care facilities.

Also Saturday, the state shared an update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration in Pennsylvania. Just more than 1.8 million doses were on track to have been allocated to or received by vaccine providers by Saturday, the state health department said.

As of Friday, 941,412 doses of the vaccine had been in administered in the state, with 574,120 people having received one shot and 183,646 having received two shots, according to the department. Vaccination against COVID-19 — using the vaccines developed by Pfizer or Moderna — is a two-shot process.

The vaccination figures do not include doses administered by CVS and Walgreens as part of a federal partnership. Nor do the figures include vaccinations in Philadelphia, which is considered its own jurisdiction, or those administered in federal facilities.

Active hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in Pennsylvania numbered 3,586 on Saturday. Of those patients, 699 were in intensive-care units, according to the state. That’s down from 4,169 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, 822 of them in ICUs, a week earlier.

The statewide positivity rate — or the proportion of those tested who turn up positive for COVID-19 — was 9.3% for the seven days that ended Thursday, down from 10.5% for Jan. 15-21.