Westmoreland County sees record 400 new covid-19 cases, surpasses 10,000 total cases

Westmoreland County added a record 400 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported, pushing the total number of cases over the 10,000 mark.

The state also reported that there were six new deaths in the county.

The total number of cases in the county now stands at 10,043, with 8,025 confirmed and 2,018 probable since the first cases were reported in March.

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.

The county’s seven-day average is 233 cases and the county’s seven-day total of cases is 1,631.

In Westmoreland County, it took 235 days to hit 5,000 cases, but then only 25 days to double that to 10,000.

This week has also seen a significant number of reported deaths. Over the weekend there were 10 deaths reported, on Tuesday another five deaths were reported and then on Wednesday the county saw a new single-day record of reported deaths — 15. With Thursday’s deaths, the death total stands at 225.

Since the start of the pandemic there have been nearly 74,575 tests in the county. The positivity rate among the latest cases is 37.29%.

According to the state’s covid-19 dashboard, 108 Westmoreland County residents are hospitalized for covid-19, with seven patients on a ventilator.