Allegheny County reports record-high 15 new coronavirus deaths; 594 cases

Allegheny County on Saturday recorded a record-high 15 new covid-19 related deaths.

That amount brings the county’s coronavirus death toll to 482. Officials noted that they have transferred a death from a previous day to another county.

There were 11 total deaths reported last week.

There have been 52 deaths in the county this month — the same number of victims who died in all of October.

County officials have also recorded 594 new coronavirus cases — a 110-case increase from the day before — but a 26-case drop from Wednesday’s single-day record of 620 cases.

Three of the deaths occurred with people in their 60s; two in their 70s; five in their 80s; four in their 90s and one person was over 100.

The dates of death ranged from Nov. 6 to Thursday. Ten of those deaths are associated with long-term care facilities.

The county has had 23,121 cases of covid-19 — a 3,622 case increase from last week, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department.

That’s more cases than the entire month of October (3,448), which was in turn, an increase of 72.3% from September (2,001).

The first two weeks of November totaled 3,703 cases, bringing the monthly total to 7,325 — an average of 349 cases per day. The county is on pace for nearly 10,500 cases this month.

The seven-day case average continues to set record highs. Saturday’s is at 517 cases.

Of the new cases, 472 are confirmed, while 122 are listed as probable.

The recent batch of samples comprising 2,632 tests were collected from Oct. 22 through Friday. Only nine positive tests were more than a week old.

The tests yielded a positivity rate of about 18%.

Sixteen new hospitalizations were reported. Officials say 1,755 people have been hospitalized since the virus was first reported in Allegheny County on March 14. That’s a 112 patient increase from last week.

Saturday’s cases range in age from 4 months to 99 years, with a median of 39 years old.