Westmoreland County posts 85 covid-19 cases, 7 new deaths

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 85 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County, as hospitalizations and case counts decline in the area.

The county’s total cases are at 24,661, which is an increase of nearly 700 cases from last week’s 23,962. The week before had an increase of 923 cases.

On Monday, a weekly high of 156 cases was reported, while a low of 52 was reported Tuesday.

Seven deaths also were reported, which increases the toll to 601. That’s 36 more than there were last week.

Eight fatalities were reported Friday, while another seven were reported Thursday.

A day left in January, 178 deaths have been recorded.

In December alone, 224 deaths were reported. Westmoreland County didn’t reach that number from the time the virus was first reported there in March until Dec. 4.

Of the new covid-19 cases, 42 are confirmed and 43 are 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 covid-19. It wasn’t immediately clear how many total tests yielded these results.

There are currently 145 covid-19 patients in hospitals throughout the county — the same amount as this time last week, according to state numbers. Of that total, 10 are in intensive care, six of whom are on ventilators.