Allegheny County reports 24 new covid deaths, 250 more cases

Allegheny County on Wednesday reported 24 new coronavirus deaths and 250 additional coronavirus cases.

There have been several days scattered in February with a spike in the county data for deaths reported. In the four days before Wednesday, the county data shows a net of zero new deaths reported.

During the month as a whole, eight or fewer deaths have been recorded on 17 days. On the other seven days, double-figure deaths have been reported — Feb. 3 (33), Feb. 6 (30), Feb. 10 (35), Feb. 12 (17) Feb. 17 (26), Feb. 19 (18) and Feb. 24 (24).

The number of the deaths in Allegheny County because of covid-19 stands at 1,652.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health puts the county’s death total at 1,704. The county and state have had different figures for deaths in the county, which is attributed to different reporting methods.

The county health department said that the dates of death ranged from Dec. 24 to Feb. 20, with one death from December and one from January. Of the new deaths reported: one person was in their 30s, one in their 40s, one in their 50s; two in their 60s, three in their 70s, 14 in their 80s and two in their 90s. Eight deaths were associated with long-term care facilities.

Continuing a trend of slowing covid cases, this was the 11th consecutive day with newly reported cases below 300 in the county. Only six days this month have seen cases over 300.

The additional 250 cases brings the county’s total to 75,500 since the start of the pandemic last March.

The county’s seven-day average is 241 cases and the seven-day total cases is 1,687. Both these figures ticked up from last Wednesday when seven-day average was 234 cases and seven-day total cases was 1,636, but have dropped since the beginning of the month. On Feb. 1, the seven-day average was 301 cases and seven-day total cases was 2,108. Looking back to the beginning of the year, the drop is even more steeper: On Jan. 1 the seven-day average was 579 cases and seven-day total cases was 4,055.

Of the new cases, the county said that 166 of them were confirmed through 752 new PCR tests conducted from Feb. 1 to Tuesday, and 84 were probable. One positive test was 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 89 years with a median age of 39. The age groups of the newly reported cases — 143 male and 107 female — are:

• Ages 0-4: 7
• Ages 5-12: 16
• Ages 13-18: 17
• Ages 19-24: 26
• Ages 25-49: 97
• Ages 50-64: 59
• Ages 65+: 28

According to the state’s covid-19 dashboard, 202 Allegheny County residents are hospitalized for covid (up six from Tuesday), 54 of them are in intensive care units and 17 of them are on ventilators.

As of Tuesday, the state was reporting that 153,229 of county residents had received at least one dose of a covid vaccine, while 51,286 individuals have received both shots.