71 more coronavirus deaths reported in Pa.; total cases top 38,600

Megan Guza | Friday, April 24, 2020 12:01 p.m.

Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News via AP

James Lin, D.O., walks down a hallway at the LECOM Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Erie on March 30.

State health officials on Friday reported 71 more coronavirus deaths and nearly 1,600 new cases of the virus as Pennsylvania marked seven weeks since seeing its first case.

There are now 1,492 confirmed deaths across the state. Confirmed deaths are those in which the deceased previously tested positive for covid-19.

The state reported 1,599 new cases of the virus across the state. That number includes confirmed and probable cases. People with probable covid-19 cases have had symptoms of the virus and have had close contact with a confirmed case but they themselves have not had a test.

The running statewide case count now stands at 38,652 since the first case was reported March 6. Nearly 147,500 people have tested negative, according to state data.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said in her daily briefing that very few, if any, tests included in the negative count are tests being done to see if someone has recovered. Initially, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had required someone twice test negative for the virus in order to be considered recovered. That is no longer their guidance.

“Outside of that initial flurry where those might have been done, very few of the tests being done now are tests of recovery,” she said.

In Allegheny County, health officials reported 28 new cases of the virus and two more virus-related deaths. Westmoreland County saw 10 new cases, according to state data, and county coroner Ken Bacha reported one more death for a total of 27.

Overall the Southwest region of the state reported 2,286 cases of the virus – about 70 more than the day prior. State officials consider the Southwest the counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland.

Fifty nursing home residents have died in Allegheny County, according to the state, and 246 residents in 32 care facilities have contracted the virus. Statewide, there are 6,153 cases in 418 nursing homes. More than half of the state’s deaths have been in nursing homes – about 903, according to the state’s data.