Allegheny County posts 133 new coronavirus cases, 1 death

The Allegheny County Health Department on Thursday reported 133 new coronavirus cases with one new death.

Out of Thursday’s cases, the department said 109 were confirmed and 24 were probable (16 of the probables are positive antigen tests) from 2,071 PCR tests. The tests — with a 6.4% positivity rate — were conducted from Oct. 13-21.

The county has seen an average of 122 new cases over the past seven days, while adding 857 new cases in that time.

The total number of cases in Allegheny County now stands at 14,529.

The county said the new death happened Monday and the person was in their 70s and associated with a long-term care facility.

To date, the county reports there have been 417 covid-related deaths, while the Pennsylvania Department of Health puts Allegheny’s death total at 399. The discrepancy is usually attributed to different reporting methods.

The new cases range in age from 3 to 96 years, with a median age of 40 years old.

The age groups of the newly reported cases — 72 male and 61 female — are:

• 0-4: 3
• 5-12: 0
• 13-18: 14
• 19-24: 8
• 25-49: 55
• 50-64: 27
• 65+: 26

Allegheny County Health Director Debra Bogen on Wednesday acknowledged the recent rise in cases, and said the health department is prepared with an increased staff of case investigators and contact tracers, greater availability of testing and continued monitoring of county data to search for clusters and outbreaks.

“The Allegheny County Health Department is ready,” Bogen said. “We anticipated this increase in cases and we spent the summer preparing.”