Allegheny County reports 425 additional covid cases, 4 deaths

Allegheny County on Thursday reported four new coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the total number for the county to 1,249.

The county also reported 425 new coronavirus cases.

The health department said that the dates of death ranged from Jan. 12 to Tuesday. The ages of the deceased were listed as one person in their 70 and three in their 80s.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reports 1,394 as Allegheny’s death total — 145 higher than county officials report. No reason is given for the difference.

The county’s 425 new coronavirus cases bring the total to 66,002 since the start of the pandemic in March. The county’s seven-day average is 438 cases, and the county’s seven-day total cases of 3,064. Both these figures have decreased 33% from last Thursday.

Of the new cases, the county said that 282 of them were confirmed through 1,783 new PCR tests conducted from Jan. 7 to Wednesday, and 143 were probable.

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.

New cases range in age from 6 months to 98 years with a median age of 43. The age groups of the newly reported cases — 198 male and 227 female — are:

• 0-4: 12
• 5-12: 25
• 13-18: 21
• 19-24: 29
• 25-49: 157
• 50-64: 106
• 65+: 75

According to the state’s covid-19 dashboard, as of Wednesday, 368 Allegheny County residents are hospitalized for covid, 116 of them are in intensive care units and 57 of them are on ventilators.

Allegheny County Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen said Wednesday the county is working to ramp up vaccinations as the state has updated its vaccination plan to include more people in the first phase, but that the current vaccine supply isn’t enough for the demand.

“I would love to tell you that we can vaccinate all of you who now meet these expanded criteria today,” Bogen said during her weekly news conference. “But the reality is that the current vaccine supply makes this unachievable at this time.”

The county continues to focus on health care workers and only schedules vaccine appointments by invitation.

Bogen also said the county’s covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have begun to plateau, falling far lower than what was anticipated following the winter holidays.