• Pennsylvania, Allegheny County both set daily records for virus cases,

Pennsylvania set another daily record Saturday for COVID-19, reporting 12,884 new cases of the disease statewide.

That eclipsed the last daily record of 11,763 — set Friday — by more than 1,000 cases as the commonwealth reached a total of 411,484 known cases since the pandemic began in March.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health also reported 149 more deaths from COVID-19, increasing that total to 11,262. Of 5,230 people hospitalized Saturday with the disease, 1,065 were in intensive-care units, the department said.

Allegheny County reached a record Saturday, too, announcing 1,197 newly reported cases. That’s up from the county’s last daily record of 1,028 cases, set on Thursday.

The county also reported five additional deaths from COVID19, bringing the total to 575.

Health officials have seen “significant increases in the number of COVID-19 cases among younger age groups, particularly 19- to 24-year-olds,” the state health department said in a statement Saturday. It reiterated that mask-wearing remains “required in all businesses and whenever leaving home,” calling the practice critical to slowing the disease.

Guidance issued Friday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged people to wear masks any time they’re indoors, not including when they’re at home with their usual

household members. The CDC also urged maskwearing outdoors when people can’t maintain social distance.

In Allegheny County, the fatalities reported Saturday included two people in their 80s. The other three were in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

Of the newly reported cases, 779 were confirmed from 2,813 new PCR tests, while 418 were probable cases, the department said. The dates of positive tests ranged from Nov. 16 to Dec. 4, with seven of them more than a week old.

People newly reported to be infected range in age from 2 months to 101 years; their median age is 42 years, according to the county’s update. The county has now reported 32,651 cases of COVID-19 since March.

As the infections increased, hospitalizations continued to spike in southwest Pennsylvania, with state and local health officials warning of impending staffing shortages in the next week. State data showed 719 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Saturday in Allegheny County.

Here are the total numbers of positive cases reported as of Saturday in Western Pennsylvania:

• Allegheny: 32,651 (up 1,197 since Friday)

• Armstrong: 2,057 (up 73)

• Beaver: 4,843 (up 289)

• Butler: 5,255 (up 168)

• Fayette: 2,796 (up 229)

• Greene: 882 (up 41)

• Washington: 5,348 (up 233)

• Westmoreland: 10,892 (up 437)

Total numbers of deaths reported Saturday:

• Allegheny: 575 (up 5 since Friday. The state reports 564 deaths.)

• Armstrong: 47 (up 1)

• Beaver: 166 (up 3)

• Butler: 92 (up 7)

• Fayette: 26 (no change)

• Greene: 5 (no change)

• Washington: 75 (no change)

• Westmoreland: 239 (up 10)

For more information about the Allegheny County or Pennsylvania data, go to their respective COVID-19 dashboards.