Allegheny County reports another 1,000-new covid case day, 7 deaths

Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 1,015 new coronavirus cases — after a two-day reprieve from 1,000-case counts — as the community continues to rack up covid-19 infections during the holiday season.

The report is a 188-case jump from Friday’s total of 827. On Thursday, 850 cases were reported.

It’s the eighth day this month the county has surpassed 1,000 cases.

Seven new deaths were reported Saturday, lifting the county’s toll at 777.

December has recorded 268 — or nearly 35% — of covid-related deaths in Allegheny County.

Friday’s report included 27 deaths, while a record-high 55 were reported Thursday. Throughout the course of the week, 117 deaths were reported.

Of the newly reported deaths, one person was in their 40s; one in their 60s; two in their 70s; one in their 80s; and two in their 90s.

Two deaths were associated with long-term care facilities.

The dates of death occurred between Dec. 11 and Friday.

The county has had 45,699 cases of covid-19, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department.

Of the new cases, 670 are confirmed, while 345 are listed as probable.

Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

The recent batch of samples comprising 2,403 tests were collected from Nov. 17 through Friday. Fourty-six of those positive tests were more than a week old, officials said.

The tests yielded a positivity rate of about 28%.

Nineteen new hospitalizations were reported. Officials say 2,783 people have been hospitalized — 351 more than this time last week — since the virus was first reported in Allegheny County on March 14.

Saturday’s cases range in age from 2 weeks to 97 years, with a median age of 45.

Nearly three weeks into December, the county has amassed 17,295 new cases.

That averages 910 per day and is on pace to log 28,210 cases just for the month.

In the entirety of October, the county saw 3,448 new cases of the virus, which was an increase of 72.3% from September (2,001).

In November, officials recorded 12,608 new cases; a nearly 80% increase from the county’s total cases leading up to that point.