Allegheny County has 'turned a corner' in covid pandemic, health official says

Allegheny County’s top health official said Wednesday that she is optimistic the county has “turned a corner” in the covid-19 pandemic, though disparities remain high among Black residents in every metric, including vaccination rates.

“I am an optimist at heart, and I am optimistic that we have turned a corner,” Dr. Debra Bogen said at her biweekly briefing. “As we spring into the warmer weather, better days lie ahead.”

Covid cases and hospitalizations have plummeted in recent weeks, dropping to fewer than 200 a day from a high of more than 3,000 at the height of the omicron surge. In January, nearly 300 deaths were covid-related in Allegheny County.

“The pandemic is not over,” Bogen said. “There will be more phases, possibly new surges and variants, and you may be asked to wear a mask again for a limited time in certain settings. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know that it looks much better than it did last month, and certainly better than it did in January.”

Earlier Wednesday, Bogen provided in-depth data regarding the state of the pandemic at the county’s health board meeting.

Case counts and hospitalization and death rates have consistently been higher among Black residents over the two years of the pandemic, while vaccination rates have been consistently lower.

Fewer Black people are fully vaccinated in almost every age group, except for those 50 to 59, according to data presented by Bogen.

The disparity is most stark among children. Only 13.7% of Black children ages 5 to 9 are fully vaccinated, compared with 39.3% of white children in the same age group. Only 33.8% of young Black people ages 10 to 19 are fully vaccinated, while 53.7% of white people in the same age group are.

“This really worries me as the health director that we continue to see disparity in our vaccination rates among our Black and white populations,” Bogen said.

She said gaps are particularly concerning when put next to data showing the impact of vaccines on the health outcomes of Allegheny County residents.

“If nothing gives you pause from today’s presentation, I hope this does,” Bogen said.

In Allegheny County, the overall rate of hospitalization for covid-19 is 72.4 per 10,000 residents.

For county residents who are fully vaccinated and have also received a booster shot, the rate of hospitalization is 10.7 per 10,000 residents.

That’s compared to a rate of 44.7 per 10,000 for people just fully vaccinated and 32.8 per 10,000 for those who are partially vaccinated.

For those who are not vaccinated, the hospitalization rate is 251 per 10,000 Allegheny County residents.

The rate of death among covid-19 patients reflects a similar pattern.

The overall death rate in the county is 27 per 10,000.

For those fully vaccinated with a booster, the death rate is 1.8 per 10,000, according to the data.

For unvaccinated people, the rate rises to 47.8 deaths per 10,000 residents, Bogen said.