Westmoreland County finishes year with 19,000 covid-19 cases, 423 deaths

Westmoreland County ended the year with a total of 19,333 coronavirus cases and 423 deaths since the first cases were reported in March.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday reported 263 additional coronavirus deaths and added 14 deaths to the year totals for the county.

December saw 10,072 cases reported, a 109% increase over November, which had 4,789 cases. There were 224 deaths reported during the month, while November recorded 96.

Of the county’s 19,333 cases, 14,536 are confirmed and 4,797 are 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.

Case numbers in the county have been trending lower after spiking in the beginning of the month. The county’s seven-day average is 223 cases and the county’s seven-day total cases of 1,559.

According to the state’s covid-19 dashboard, 178 Westmoreland County residents are hospitalized for covid-19, 21 of them are in intensive care units and 14 of them are on ventilators

The state recently launched an online dashboard so people can track the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine. As of Dec. 30, state officials report that 3,084 doses of the vaccines have been administered to county residents.