Allegheny County reports 2 more covid deaths, 276 cases

Allegheny County on Thursday reported two additional coronavirus deaths and 276 additional coronavirus cases.

The number of the deaths in Allegheny County because of covid-19 stands at 1,688.

The health department said that the dates of death ranged from Dec. 7 to Tuesday and that one person was in their 80s and one person was in their 90s. Both deaths were associated with long-term care facilities.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health puts the county’s death total at 1,738. The county and state have had different figures for deaths in the county. The discrepancy between the county and the state is attributed to different reporting methods.

The additional 276 new coronavirus cases brings the county’s total to 77,515 since the start of the pandemic last year.

The county’s seven-day average is 256 cases and the seven-day total cases is 1,791. Both these figures have ticked up from last Thursday when seven-day average was 238 cases and seven-day total cases was 1,664.

Cases have dropped since the beginning of the year: On Jan. 1 the seven-day average was 579 cases and seven-day total cases was 4,055. On Feb. 1 the seven-day average was 301 cases and seven-day total cases was 2,108. And on March 1 the seven-day average was 268 cases and seven-day total cases was 1,877.

Of the new cases, the county said that 194 of them were confirmed through 988 new PCR tests conducted from Dec. 27 to Wednesday, and 82 were probable. Five positive test were more than a week old.

The state Department of Health defines a probable case as one in which a patient has “a positive serology (antibody) test and either covid-19 symptoms or a high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

The new cases range in age from 7 months to 95 years with a median age of 35. The age groups of the newly reported cases — 159 male and 117 female — are:

• Ages 0-4: 9
• Ages 5-12: 16
• Ages 13-18: 23
• Ages 19-24: 40
• Ages 25-49: 123
• Ages 50-64: 42
• Ages 65+: 23

According to the state’s covid-19 dashboard, 178 Allegheny County residents are hospitalized for covid (up eight from Wednesday), 49 of them are in intensive care units and 16 of them are on ventilators.

The state was reporting that 121,477 of county residents had received at least one dose of a covid vaccine, while 78,040 individuals have received both shots.

While Allegheny County’s covid-19 case numbers are stable, the county is cautious about easing restrictions too quickly and urged residents not to let their guard down.

“We’ve been down this road before,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said Wednesday. “Back in June, when we went into the Green Phase, people relaxed a little too much and we saw our cases explode and in July we had to make some actions that we didn’t want to do, but needed to be done.”

Dr. Debra Bogen, health director, also said the county’s supply of vaccine continues to improve.