New covid cases continue to decline in Allegheny County

Allegheny County continues to see a decline in the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths associated with covid-19.

The county added 394 new cases of coronavirus over the past two days, according to county’s Health Department. That’s more than 12% fewer new cases than a week ago (450) and more than 50% fewer than a month ago (796).

Of the new cases, officials said 275 were confirmed through 2,056 PCR tests conducted from Jan. 2 through Sunday. Officials reported that three of the positive tests were more than a week old.

Officials said 119 of the new cases were listed as 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 coronavirus.

The seven-day case average is down to 267, while the seven-day case total is at 1,866. Each of those figures have not been that low since Nov. 10.

New cases ranged in age from 4 months to 94 years, with a median age of 39 years.

The age breakdown of the newest cases — 198 female, 196 male — are:

• Ages 0-4: 8
• Ages 5-12: 21
• Ages 13-18: 24
• Ages 19-24: 30
• Ages 25-49: 173
• Ages 50-64: 78
• Ages 65 and over: 59

Officials report that the age of one case is not known at this time.

Some reports have pointed out that covid testing is down over the past few months. While the data does bear that out, it doesn’t appear to be the reason new case numbers are dropping.

In mid-December, Allegheny County’s seven-day PCR testing average stood at around 2,500 tests per day. In mid-January, that number had dropped to closer to 1,900 per day. In mid-February, it’s down to around 1,100 per day. However, the percentage of those PCR tests coming back positive has also decreased steadily. In mid-December, the average positivity rate was 30%, in mid-January it was at 26%, and currently it’s around 18%.

Health officials reported there were no new covid-related deaths over the past two days, leaving the county’s death toll at 1,583. Over the first 15 days of February, the county has reported 130 deaths, 43% fewer than were reported in the first 15 days of January (228).

The state’s health department reported Monday that there were three new covid-related deaths in Allegheny County over the past two days, bringing the state’s death total for the county to 1,646. The discrepancy between the county and the state is attributed to different reporting methods.

Health officials report that 85,265 county residents have received at least one dose of a covid vaccine, while 40,842 individuals have received both shots.

Despite a slight uptick in the number of people in the hospital for covid, Allegheny County’s seven-day hospitalization average is down to 239 — a point it’s not been since Nov. 14 (237).

Currently, according to the Open Data PA website, there are 223 Allegheny County residents hospitalized with covid-19, with 58 of them in intensive care units and 20 on a ventilator.

Since the pandemic began last spring, Allegheny County has seen 73,399 cases of coronavirus, with 57,794 of them confirmed through PCR tests and 15,605 of them considered probable cases.