The number of new COVID-19 cases reported Thursday in Pennsylvania nearly topped 1,000, according to the state health department.
Of the 962 statewide cases, Western Pennsylvania accounts for 236 of them. Allegheny County had the highest total in the region with 147 new cases. Westmoreland County had the second highest with 20 cases.
Since the Allegheny County reported its first case in March, it has a total of 6,817 cases. The state total is 104,358 cases.
Across the state, there was an increase of 16 new COVID-19-related deaths, bringing its total to 7,079. Western Pennsylvania reported three deaths — two in Allegheny County and one in Erie County.
During a news conference Thursday in Harrisburg, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine acknowledged that someone from the state administration had been on a call with Dr. Deborah Birx from the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The call warned that certain cities, including Pittsburgh, needed to take “aggressive” mitigation efforts to stop the spread of the virus.
Dr. Levine added that efforts recommended by the White House were orders that Dr. Debra Bogen, Allegheny County’s health director, had already implemented.
Without being specific, Dr. Levine said, “the type of mitigation steps are exactly the steps Dr. Bogen put into place weeks ago."
Dr. Levine also noted that the mitigation efforts put in place by the state last week — which included limiting restaurants to 25% capacity and indoor gatherings to 25 people — are vital to schools’ reopening plans.
“It’s critical to drive down the case counts now in terms of the rise of new cases in order to prepare for schools to reopen,” Dr. Levine said. “If we don’t do that now, that would put that in jeopardy.”
She also said reopening plans would have to be looked at “county by county, not just across the whole state.”
Allegheny’s new cases come from 1,172 tests that were administered within a 17-day span from July 6 through July 22. The cases range in age from 9 to 93 years old, with a median age of 38.
Of Allegheny County’s two deaths, one was 80 years old and the other was 87 years old. The deaths occurred on June 28 and July 22.
With 15 new hospitalizations, there have been 551 people hospitalized past or present in the county.
The state health department said the increased number of statewide cases can partially be attributed to a lag in reporting and included Philadelphia case counts from Wednesday and Thursday.
Thursday begins the first day that the county’s new COVID Field Response Team will be visiting businesses in the community to check for compliance with state and county guidelines. The first checklists are expected to be published sometime on Friday, according to a news release from the county.
Here is the total number of positive cases reported Thursday in Western Pennsylvania:
• Allegheny: 6,817 (up 147 from Wednesday)
• Armstrong: 134 (up 5)
• Beaver: 1,053 (up 5)
• Butler: 519 (up 6)
• Cambria: 191 (up 9)
• Clarion: 71 (up 1)
• Clearfield: 107 (up 2)
• Crawford: 114 (no change)
• Erie: 818 (up 5)
• Fayette: 294 (up 6)
• Forest: 7 (no change)
• Greene: 93 (up 2)
• Indiana: 186 (up 1)
• Jefferson: 48 (no change)
• Lawrence: 261 (up 4)
• Mercer: 282 (up 6)
• Somerset: 105 (up 5)
• Venango: 53 (no change)
• Washington: 613 (up 10)
• Westmoreland: 1,234 (up 20)
Here is the total number of deaths reported Thursday in Western Pennsylvania:
• Allegheny: 219 (up 2 from Wednesday. The state is reporting 214.)
• Armstrong: 6 (no change)
• Beaver: 82 (no change)
• Butler: 14 (no change)
• Cambria: 3 (no change)
• Clarion: 2 (no change)
• Clearfield: 0 (no change)
• Crawford:1 (no change)
• Erie: 14 (up 1)
• Fayette: 4 (no change)
• Forest: 0 (no change)
• Greene: 0 (no change)
• Indiana: 6 (no change)
• Jefferson: 1 (no change)
• Lawrence: 9 (no change)
• Mercer: 9 (no change)
• Somerset: 1 (no change)
• Venango: 0 (no change)
• Washington: 10 (no change)
• Westmoreland: 41 (The Westmoreland County coroner, whose numbers were last updated July 20, is reporting 34)
Here’s a look at demographic data in Allegheny County, based on data reported:
Cases by age:
• 0-9: 144 (2%)
• 10-19: 407 (6%)
• 20-29: 1,975 (29%)
• 30-39: 1,125 (17%)
• 40-49: 744 (11%)
• 50-59: 882 (13%)
• 60-69: 657 (10%)
• 70 and over: 883 (13%)
Deaths by age:
• 20-29: 1 (0%)
• 30-39: 1 (0%)
• 40-49: 2 (1%)
• 50-59: 9 (4%)
• 60-69: 26 (12%)
• 70 and over: 180 (82%)
Cases by gender:
• Female: 3,567 (54%)
• Male: 3,103 (46%)
Deaths by gender:
• Female: 129 (59%)
• Male: 90 (41%)
Cases by race:
• White: 3,821 (56%)
• Black: 1,895 (28%)
• Asian: 237 (3%)
• Other: 85 (1%)
• Race unknown: 779 (11%)
Deaths by race:
• White: 168 (77%)
• Black: 46 (21%)
• Asian: 1 (0%)
• Race unknown: 4 (2%)
Nursing and personal care homes
The state has released data — organized by county — about cases and deaths at nursing and personal care homes. Here’s information about Western Pennsylvania, based on Thursday’s figures, with changes in deaths noted in parentheses:
• Allegheny: 67 facilities, 658 cases among residents, 220 cases among employees, 162 deaths (no change)
• Armstrong: 5 facilities, 29 cases among residents, 8 cases among employees, 5 deaths (no change)
• Beaver: 7 facilities, 441 cases among residents, 50 cases among employees, 83 deaths (no change)
• Butler: 12 facilities, 20 cases among residents, 15 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)
• Cambria: 5 facilities, 15 cases among residents, 5 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Clarion: 2 facilities, 10 cases among residents, 4 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Clearfield: 3 facilities, 2 cases among residents, 2 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Crawford: 2 facilities, 11 cases among residents, 15 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Erie: 17 facilities, 64 cases among residents, 63 cases among employees, 10 deaths (no change)
• Fayette: 5 facilities, 9 cases among residents, 6 cases among employees, 1 death (no change)
• Greene: 1 facility, 2 cases among residents, 1 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Indiana: 9 facilities, 25 cases among residents, 9 cases among employees, 4 deaths (no change)
• Jefferson: 1 facility, 4 cases among residents, 4 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Lawrence: 7 facilities, 37 cases among residents, 16 cases among employees, 1 death (no change)
• Mercer: 8 facilities, 35 cases among residents, 23 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)
• Somerset: 3 facilities, 2 cases among residents, 1 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Venango: 1 facility, 5 cases among residents, 0 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Washington: 8 facilities, 20 cases among residents, 7 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)
• Westmoreland: 20 facilities, 159 cases among residents, 50 cases among employees, 29 deaths (no change)
• Pennsylvania: 804 facilities, 18,892 cases among residents, 3,707 cases among employees, 4,829 deaths (no change)
For additional information on Allegheny County data, visit the county’s COVID-19 Dashboard. More information on statewide results can be found on the Pennsylvania Health Department’s website.
First Published: July 23, 2020, 3:28 p.m.
