Allegheny County saw a second day of under 200 covid cases reported, while cases in Westmoreland County dropped after a data dump inflated cases for Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Allegheny County Health Department reported 177 additional covid-19 cases — 148 confirmed and 22 probable. This is down 17.2% from last Thursday and comes after 158 cases were reported on Wednesday.

The new coronavirus cases in the county — 81 male and 96 female — range in age from seven months to 95 years with a median age of 29 years.

The county’s total climbed to 98,532 since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Dr. Debra Bogen, the Allegheny County Health Department director, in her weekly press briefing on Wednesday, said case counts in Allegheny County are not decreasing as fast as she would like. She implored those who are eligible and who haven’t to get their covid vaccine.

Westmoreland County saw an additional 53 cases — 43 confirmed and 10 probable. This comes after 143 cases were added Wednesday, a bulk of which were because a lab submitted reported cases ranging from March 2020 to March 2021. The county’s overall total stands at 33,111.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 2,476 additional cases, with its total increasing to 1,166,692. The seven-day average of cases was 2,899, a 14.5% drop from last Thursday.

In the state, Philadelphia had the most cases added Thursday with 349. Allegheny’s 177 was the next highest in the state.

Vaccinations

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf stated this week that the state’s masking order will be dropped once 70% of Pennsylvanians 18 and older are fully vaccinated.

The state inches toward that goal.

According to the state’s data on Thursday, 41.6% of residents 18 and older are fully vaccinated, while 62.1% of residents 18 have received at least one dose of a covid vaccine.

In Allegheny County 683,960 residents (55.9% of all residents) have received at least one dose of a covid vaccine, while 452,426 individuals are fully covered (36.9% of all residents).

Bogen on Wednesday said there are still “a couple hundred thousand” left who are eligible to receive a dose. She said that vaccine hesitancy, equity and general access remain barriers to getting Allegheny County residents the vaccine.

“We’re still vaccinating quite a few people, but not quite to the rates we were a couple weeks ago,” Bogen said.

In Westmoreland County, the state reported that 155,846 of county residents (30.8% of all residents) had received at least one dose of a covid vaccine, while 112,552 individuals are fully covered (30.8% of all residents).

State Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward of Hemfield encouraged constituents to get the covid-19 vaccine.

“It’s going to help us get back to normal,” she said Wednesday in a radio interview.

Hospitalizations

Covid-related hospitalizations statewide and in Allegheny have come down, while Westmoreland has seen a slight uptick in hospitalizations the past two days.

The number of residents who are hospitalized statewide for the virus is 2,047, down 84 from Wednesday, according to state data. Hospitalizations in the state have been down every day except for one in the past two weeks.

In the state, there are currently 448 covid patients in intensive care units and 235 on ventilators.

According to the state’s data, 180 Allegheny County residents are hospitalized for covid (down 21 from Wednesday), 56 of them are in the ICU and 28 of them are on ventilators. This is the lowest number of hospitalizations in the county since March 25 (167).

In Westmoreland County, 39 covid patients (up four from Wednesday) are hospitalized with five in the ICU and one on a ventilator. Hospitalizations in Westmoreland have hovered in the 30s for the past week.

Deaths

The state health department reported 57 additional covid-related deaths, as the state’s total grew to 26,447. Of the newly-reported deaths, 28 are from May, 28 are from April and one is from March.

The Allegheny County Health Department added two new deaths, both in May, with one person in their 50s and another in their 80s. The death total stands at 1,890, according to the county.

The state health department has a total of 1,915 deaths for Allegheny County. No reason has been given for the discrepancy between the two health departments.

For the fourth day in a row, Westmoreland County saw no additional covid-related deaths — the total number of covid deaths in the county stands at 746.

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