Allegheny County reports 26 new coronavirus deaths

Allegheny County on Wednesday reported 26 new coronavirus deaths and 215 additional coronavirus cases.

The newly reported deaths is a spike in the county data, but most days in February have reported a low number of deaths. Eight or fewer deaths have been recorded on 12 days this month. That balances the five other days that have had double-figure deaths reported.

The number of deaths in Allegheny County because of covid-19 stands at 1,610.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health puts the county’s death total at 1,658. 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 health department said that the dates of death ranged from Jan. 15 to Monday, with two deaths from January. Of the new deaths reported: one person was in their 50s, six in their 60s, four in their 70s, five in their 80s, nine in their 90s, and one was over 100 years old.

Eight deaths were associated with long-term care facilities.

The additional 215 new coronavirus cases brings the county’s total to 73,813 since the start of the pandemic last March.

The county’s seven-day average is 234 cases and the seven-day total cases is 1,636. Both these figures 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 significant: 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 128 were confirmed through 779 new PCR tests conducted from Feb. 1 to Tuesday, and 87 were probable. Two positive tests are more than a week old.

The state health department 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 1 month to 94 years with a median age of 38. The age groups of the newly reported cases — 122 male and 93 female — are:

• 0-4: 5
• 5-12: 13
• 13-18: 12
• 19-24: 25
• 25-49: 89
• 50-64: 42
• 65+: 29

According to the OpenData PA covid-19 website, there are 230 Allegheny County residents hospitalized for covid, 57 of them are in intensive care units and 18 of them are on ventilators.