COVID-19 cases jump

Allegheny County on Tuesday topped 300 new COVID-19 cases for the first time since the first case was reported in mid-March, but the state and county explained the surge was due to a lag in reporting, not necessarily the amount of cases reported in the past 24 hours.

The 331 additional cases of the virus occurred between June 8 and July 12, and comes from 4,536 administered tests. The state health department noted only 145 of these cases were reported in the last 24 hours.

The county total is now at 5,364 cases. Likewise, the state said of its 929 new positive cases, nearly a quarter of them are the result of a delay in reporting.

“The Allegheny County Health Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Health are working with the laboratory to determine why there appears to be a lag in test results and hopes to have additional information for tomorrow’s briefing,” the county said Tuesday.

Of Pennsylvania’s 929 cases, the state health department said 216 were the result of a delay in a private lab’s reporting.

The state has a total of 96,671 cases. The state also noted “the number of infections is thought to be far higher than the confirmed case count.” They attribute this to people not being tested and asymptomatic carriers.

Those infected in this latest batch of new cases in Allegheny County range in age from 5 months to 99 years, with the median age being 30.

Western Pennsylvania saw an increase of 481 new cases. Beaver County had the second highest increase with 25 additional cases.

Allegheny County also is reporting seven new hospitalizations, bringing the total to 477 past or present hospitalizations as of Tuesday.

The county has also had another COVID-19 related death, bringing its death toll to 199. The date of this most recent death was July 12. There were no other deaths reported in Western Pennsylvania.

Statewide there were 20 new deaths as a result of the virus, bringing the state death toll to 6,931.

Here are the total number of positive cases reported Tuesday in Western Pennsylvania: Allegheny: 5,364 (up 331 from Monday); Armstrong: 88 (up 2); Beaver: 870 (up 25); Butler: 444 (up 15); Cambria: 137 (NC); Clarion: 66 (up 3); Clearfield: 95 (up 2); Crawford: 80 (up 2); Erie: 740 (up 22); Fayette: 213 (up 11); Forest: 7 (NC); Greene: 72 (up 2); Indiana: 169 (up 13); Jefferson: 41 (up 2); Lawrence: 200 (up 3); Mercer: 186 (up 11); Somerset: 84 (up 3); Venango: 46 (up 8); Washington: 465 (up 11); and Westmoreland: 1,033 (up 23).