County sees 125 new COVID-19 cases
The Allegheny County Health Department Wednesday reported 125 new COVID-19 cases, 10 more hospitalizations and five additional deaths.
The new cases are the result of 1,310 tests that were administered between July 8 and July 28, according to health officials. Those who have newly tested positive range in age from 1 to 98 years old, with the median age of 52. The county total is 7,718 cases.
Statewide, there were an additional 834 cases reported for Wednesday, bringing the number of positive cases in Pennsylvania to 110,218. Western Pennsylvania accounted for 247 — about 30% — of Wednesday’s cases.
Westmoreland County reported the second highest increase for Wednesday with 24 new cases, followed by Erie County with an additional 20 cases.
The five new deaths in Allegheny County occurred between
July 14 and July 24 and range in age from 70 to 90 years old, officials said. The county’s death toll is 234.
In the past seven days, the county has seen an increase of 17 deaths.
The state health department reported 16 additional deaths for Wednesday. The state death toll is 7,162.
Of the newly reported deaths, seven occurred in Western Pennsylvania. In addition to Allegheny
County’s five, Butler and Westmoreland counties each reported a death.
Since mid-March when the pandemic first took hold in Allegheny County, there have been 613 hospitalizations as a result of the virus. There have been 194 patients admitted to intensive care units and 85 patients that are requiring mechanical ventilation due to virus complications, based on the latest data released from the county.
Dr. Debra Bogen, the county’s health director, noted Wednesday that, based on conversations with hospital officials across the county, they are prepared for this rise in hospitalizations.
“We flattened the curve at the beginning of the pandemic to give our hospitals time to prepare for an increase like we’ve seen in the past few weeks, and they are well-prepared,” she said. “They have assured me they have the capacity to handle this increase in hospitalizations and have robust plans to expand bed space if needed.”
She also clarified the information about hospitals that comes from the Allegheny County website includes only information about hospitalized patients who are residents of Allegheny County, but the information on the state website includes data that may have people who were hospitalized in the county but live elsewhere.
Here is the total number of positive cases reported Wednesday in Western Pennsylvania:
• Allegheny: 7,718 (up 125 from Tuesday)
• Armstrong: 174 (up 5)
• Beaver: 1,176 (up 12)
• Butler: 586 (up 9)
• Cambria: 235 (up 3)
• Clarion: 72 (no change)
• Clearfield: 120 (no change)
• Crawford: 120 (up 2)
• Erie: 891 (up 20)
• Fayette: 352 (up 16)
• Forest: 9 (no change)
• Greene: 103 (up 3)
• Indiana: 241 (up 7)
• Jefferson: 57 (up 2)
• Lawrence: 319 (up 11)
• Mercer: 308 (up 5)
• Somerset: 114 (up 1)
• Venango: 60 (up 1)
• Washington: 710 (up 1)
• Westmoreland: 1,351 (up 24)
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 Wednesday’s figures, with changes in deaths noted in parentheses:
• Allegheny: 82 facilities, 772 cases among residents, 254 cases among employees, 172 deaths (up 3)
• Armstrong: 7 facilities, 33 cases among residents, 8 cases among employees, 5 deaths (no change)
• Beaver: 7 facilities, 463 cases among residents, 64 cases among employees, 88 deaths (up 2)
• Butler: 13 facilities, 22 cases among residents, 15 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)
• Cambria: 5 facilities, 16 cases among residents, 6 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Clarion: 2 facilities, 10 cases among residents, 4 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Clearfield: 4 facilities, 2 cases among residents, 3 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Crawford: 2 facilities, 11 cases among residents, 15 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Erie: 17 facilities, 78 cases among residents, 70 cases among employees, 11 deaths (no change)
• Fayette: 5 facilities, 9 cases among residents, 8 cases among employees, 1 death (no change)
• Greene: 1 facility, 2 cases among residents, 1 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Indiana: 11 facilities, 28 cases among residents, 9 cases among employees, 4 deaths (no change)
• Jefferson: 2 facilities, 4 cases among residents, 5 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Lawrence: 8 facilities, 41 cases among residents, 25 cases among employees, 4 deaths (up 2)
• Mercer: 8 facilities, 35 cases among residents, 25 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)
• Somerset: 3 facilities, 3 cases among residents, 3 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Venango: 1 facility, 5 cases among residents, 0 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Washington: 8 facilities, 23 cases among residents, 8 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)
• Westmoreland: 20 facilities, 169 cases among residents, 50 cases among employees, 30 deaths (up 1)
• Pennsylvania: 841 facilities, 19,290 cases among residents, 3,893 cases among employees, 4,883 deaths (up 26)
For additional information on Allegheny County data, visit the county’s COVID-19 Dashboard. More information on statewide results can be found on the Pennsylvania Health Department’s website.