Allegheny County adds 150 covid cases, 3 new deaths

Allegheny County added 150 cases of coronavirus Tuesday, the county’s Heath Department reported.

Of the new cases, 95 were confirmed and 55 probable. The results come from 1,032 PCR tests conducted from Oct. 24-Nov. 2.

Among the probable cases, 20 came from positive antigen tests.

The new cases range in age from 10 months to 102 years old, with a median age of 39.

Officials said there were three new covid-related deaths reported, which occurred from Oct. 28-Nov. 1. One of the deaths was a person in their 70s, one in their 80s and one in their 90s. It is the first time in four days the county has added covid-related deaths.

The age groups of the new cases — 68 female and 82 male — are:

• Ages 0-4: 1
• Ages 5-12: 2
• Ages 13-18: 10
• Ages 19-24: 25
• Ages 25-49: 65
• Ages 50-64: 25
• Ages 65 and over: 22

On Tuesday, the PCR test positivity rate — the percentage of PCR tests that come back positive — in Allegheny County was 9.21%. In the past week, the county’s daily test positivity rate has been averaging around 7.5%. In early to mid October, the test-positive rate was averaging around 5.5%.

According to the state’s covid-19 tracking website, there are 152 Allegheny County residents currently in the hospital with the virus, 29 of them on ventilators. State officials report there are 810 operational ventilators in the county, with 206 (25.4%) currently in use for all illnesses. To date, the county reports 1,453 residents have been hospitalized for the virus.

The county’s website is reporting outcomes in 11,455 cases — with 11,018 assumed to be recovered and 437 deaths. The current recovery rate for those whose case has an outcome is just over 96%. Of the county’s 16,210 total covid-19 cases, 4,755 remain without an assumed outcome.

Cases are considered to be “recovered” after it’s been 32 days since the person was hospitalized for covid-19 and not deceased or if they weren’t hospitalized within 14 days of testing positive.

Since March, when the pandemic began, 14,801 county residents have had positive PCR tests for the virus, with 215,604 reported negative — meaning 6.4% of those PCR tests have been positive.