Allegheny County adds 306 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths

Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 306 new coronavirus cases, a relative bump up as cases had been on the decline in recent weeks.

Reports haven’t reached 500 cases in nearly four weeks and the county hasn’t reported any 1,000-case days in the past six weeks, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department.

The seven-day average is 275 cases.

Three deaths were reported Saturday, increasing the county’s toll to 1,583.

That’s 56 more total deaths than at the same time last week. Wednesday’s numbers included 35 deaths, the highest report for the week.

The deaths occurred on Thursday and Friday.

Two people were in their 70s and one person was in their 90s. One of the deaths was associated with a long-term care facility.

The county has amassed 73,005 cases of covid-19 since the start of the pandemic last March, according to the county Health Department.

Of the new cases, 242 are confirmed, and 64 are listed as probable. Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

The recent batch of samples comprising 1,191 tests was collected from Dec. 28 through Friday. Six positive tests were more than a week old, and one was from December, officials said.

The tests yielded a positivity rate of about 20%. The cases range in age from 6 months to 99 years old, with a median age of 39.

Sixteen new hospitalizations were reported. Officials say 4,663 people have been hospitalized — 74 more than at the same time the preceding week — since the virus was first reported in Allegheny County on March 14. Of those hospitalized, 846 were admitted to an intensive care unit.

Nearly two weeks into February, Allegheny County has reported 3,637 covid-19 cases, which is an average of 280 per day — up about 40 cases per day from last week.

Last month, 15,559 cases were reported — an average of 502 per day.

Throughout December, the county had amassed 25,405 new cases. This represents nearly 36% of Allegheny County’s cases. That averaged 820 per day.

In November, officials recorded 12,608 new cases. December more than doubled that amount.

In the entirety of October, the county saw 3,448 new cases of the virus, which was an increase of 72% from September (2,001).

According to the Allegheny County covid website, officials are estimating that more than 25,000 people have now recovered from the virus.

The website counts people as recovered based on one of two conditions: It’s been 32 days since the person was hospitalized for covid-19 and survived, if they were not hospitalized, 14 days since they tested positive.