Region’s pace of infections slower than Pa.’s
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen across the state even as the infection curve has begun to flatten in southwestern Pennsylvania, state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Tuesday.
The statewide number of confirmed cases rose 1,579 to 14,559 total, and deaths were up 78, nearly 50% more than the day before, to 240 total. Cases for the first time are now present in all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
Allegheny County health officials also reported two additional deaths Tuesday, bringing the county total to six, and 47 new confirmed cases, bringing the total to 689.
Southwestern Pennsylvania — Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Fayette, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland counties — does appear to be seeing slower case growth than the state as a whole. Since Friday, cases increased in the region from 797 to 1,188, a 49% increase, whereas
statewide, cases rose from 8,420 to 14,559, a 73% increase.
“So far, in the last number of days, we have seen a flattening of the curve in southwest Pennsylvania, which is very positive,” Dr. Levine said. She cautioned, however, that “one, or two, or even three days of data is not conclusive,” and the state health department uses seven-day averages to determine if short-term trends are continuing.
Dr. Levine indicated the large increase in statewide deaths Tuesday is at least partially due to a lag in reporting deaths from the weekend. She also explained, however, the peak of deaths will likely occur after the peak in new cases.
“We would expect that there would be increases in our number of deaths as the number of new cases plateaus and then, hopefully, goes down,” Dr. Levine said. “That would be due to serious illness in patients that had already been diagnosed — and this has already been seen in other states.” The majority of deaths have been in those aged 65 and older, the secretary said.
The secretary said there is sometimes a lag in reporting new cases over the weekend, which often results in a higher case count on Tuesdays. She also said she assumes the “confirmed” count is a substantial undercount of the true number of cases in the state, and people with mild symptoms who have had contact with confirmed infections — often referred to as “probable cases” — are often not tested because of limited capacity.
“If there was a significant outbreak in a facility, or at least one person in a home were positive, other individuals who develop symptoms in that facility or that home could be what are called probable cases,” Dr. Levine said. She added there is “no necessity” to test these cases, but if they began to show “significant symptoms,” they should go to a hospital for treatment and potentially be tested there.
The six Allegheny deaths include five people who were hospitalized — one person in their 60s, two in their 70s, one in their 80s, and one in their 90s, officials said. One individual who died was not hospitalized; that woman was in her 70s.
The largest number of deaths in Western Pennsylvania has been reported in Beaver County, where the state reported nine deaths and 116 confirmed cases; the county coroner, however, has reported 13 deaths.
Other deaths reported in the region have been in Cambria County, which reported its first death from the virus (and seven total cases); two deaths each have been reported in Butler County (102 cases) and Lawrence County (29 cases); and Fayette County has had one death (and 32 cases), according to state figures.
Throughout the rest of Western Pennsylvania, Jefferson County saw its first confirmed case; Armstrong County has 18 cases; Clarion, 9; Clearfield, 7; Crawford, 8; Erie, 28; Forest, 6; Greene, 15; Indiana, 21;
Mercer, 10; Somerset, 7; Venango, 5; Washington, 57; and Westmoreland, 177.
Philadelphia County leads the state in the number of cases with 4,012 and in deaths at 58.
Dr. Levine reported 1,665 patients are hospitalized statewide with COVID-19, and 548 of these patients require ventilators. Still available across the state are 51% of hospital beds, 40% of ICU beds and nearly 70% of ventilators.
Additionally, Dr. Levine said that 664 of the statewide cases are health care workers and 674 cases are residents of nursing homes/long term care facilities.
Confirmed cases by age in Allegheny County:
0-4 years of age — 3 (less than 1%)
5-12 — 4 (less than 1%) 13-18 — 9 (1%)
19-24 — 58 (8%)
25-49 — 286 (42%) 50-64 — 191 (28%)
65+ — 138 (20%)
The virus is affecting as many women as it is men in the county, health officials said.