Pennsylvania reported no new COVID-19-related deaths and 521 new cases, the state health department said Monday.
The last time the state had zero deaths in its daily report was Aug.17. With the additional cases, the state has had 134,025, while the death toll remained at 7,673.
Of the 521 newest cases, 82 come from Western Pennsylvania. Allegheny County saw the highest increase on Monday with 37 new cases, followed by Washington County with 16.
This is the 11th day in a row that Allegheny County reported less than 100 new, single-day cases.
The county’s new cases come from 732 tests that were obtained between Aug. 25 and Aug. 30. Those who have tested positive range in ages 4 to 100 years old, with a median age of 34.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the county has had 10,347 positive cases of the virus, 330 deaths and 969 hospitalizations.
According to the most recent data from the state, Allegheny County currently has 62 people hospitalized for COVID-19, 15 of which require mechanical ventilation.
The county health department also announced that as of Sunday, all positive antigen tests will be counted as probable cases.
“Cases with positive antigen tests were previously only counted as probable cases if they also had symptoms of COVID-19 or had close contact with a known case. Now all positive antigen cases will be counted as probable cases regardless of symptoms or exposure,” the health department said.
The antigen test is a more recent and faster test for COVID-19 that some universities and health systems are using. It works by detecting proteins that are part of the virus, and results are received within hours.
This change will only be applied to future cases.
After a July spike, the percentage of virus tests coming back positive over seven days in the state has dropped from 6% in late July to just under 4.8% at the end of August, according to the COVID Tracking Project. It hit a low of 3.3% in June.
The state saw a seven-day average of 650 new cases per day at the end of August, down from 925 per day over the last seven days of July.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths has remained relatively stable, ranging from a seven-day average of just below 12 up to 22 during August, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The seven-day average ended August at just under 12.
Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday gave no hint that he will relax restrictions on indoor capacity at restaurants and bars, which he limited to 25% in July amid a resurgence of the virus linked, by some contact tracing data, to bars and restaurants.
Asked Monday about those restrictions as colder weather increasingly prevents outdoor seating, Mr. Wolf said he is focused on getting children back to school, “and anything we do to take our eyes off that ball is going to be a problem.”
Here is the total number of positive cases reported Monday in Western Pennsylvania:
• Allegheny: 10,310 (up 37 from Sunday)
• Armstrong: 314 (up 1)
• Beaver: 1,611 (up 8)
• Butler: 785 (up 5)
• Cambria: 461 (up 1)
• Clarion: 98 (down 1)
• Clearfield: 227 (no change)
• Crawford: 214 (no change)
• Erie: 1,349 (up 1)
• Fayette: 692 (up 3)
• Forest: 14 (no change)
• Greene: 140 (up 1)
• Indiana: 427 (up 1)
• Jefferson: 97 (no change)
• Lawrence: 459 (up 4)
• Mercer: 546 (up 1)
• Somerset: 165 (up 1)
• Venango: 70 (no change)
• Washington: 1,054 (up 12)
• Westmoreland: 1,815 (up 6)
__________
Here is the total number of deaths reported Monday in Western Pennsylvania:
• Allegheny: 330 (no change from Sunday; the state is reporting 313)
• Armstrong: 9 (no change)
• Beaver: 96 (no change)
• Butler: 18 (no change)
• Cambria: 4 (no change)
• Clarion: 3 (no change)
• Clearfield: 1 (no change)
• Crawford: 2 (no change)
• Erie: 33 (no change)
• Fayette: 6 (no change)
• Forest: 0 (no change)
• Greene: 1 (no change)
• Indiana: 10 (no change)
• Jefferson: 1 (no change)
• Lawrence: 18 (no change)
• Mercer: 13 (no change)
• Somerset: 3 (no change)
• Venango: 1 (no change)
• Washington: 27 (no change)
• Westmoreland: 49 (no change; the Westmoreland County coroner, whose numbers were last updated on Aug. 28, is reporting 48)
__________
Here’s a look at demographic data in Allegheny County, based on data reported Monday:
Cases by age:
• 0-9: 249 (2%)
• 10-19: 818 (8%)
• 20-29: 2,615 (25%)
• 30-39: 1,589 (15%)
• 40-49: 1,136 (11%)
• 50-59: 1,385 (13%)
• 60-69: 1,061 (10%)
• 70 and over: 1,494 (14%)
Deaths by age:
• 20-29: 1 (0%)
• 30-39: 1 (0%)
• 40-49: 2 (1%)
• 50-59: 14 (4%)
• 60-69: 38 (12%)
• 70 and over: 274 (83%)
Cases by gender:
• Female: 5,588 (54%)
• Male: 4,759 (46%)
Deaths by gender:
• Female: 188 (57%)
• Male: 142 (43%)
Cases by race:
• White: 6,100 (59%)
• Black: 2,647 (26%)
• Asian: 382 (4%)
• Other: 140 (1%)
• Race unknown: 1,078 (10%)
Deaths by race:
• White: 258 (78%)
• Black: 59 (18%)
• Asian: 2 (1%)
• Race unknown: 11 (3%)
__________
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 Monday’s figures. Changes in deaths are noted in parentheses:
• Allegheny: 100 facilities, 1,240 cases among residents, 390 cases among employees, 235 deaths (up 5)
• Armstrong: 7 facilities, 71 cases among residents, 10 cases among employees, 9 deaths (no change)
• Beaver: 7 facilities, 549 cases among residents, 109 cases among employees, 97 deaths (no change)
• Butler: 16 facilities, 34 cases among residents, 23 cases among employees, 3 deaths (no change)
• Cambria: 5 facilities, 34 cases among residents, 17 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Clarion: 3 facilities, 15 cases among residents, 14 cases among employees, 1 death (no change)
• Clearfield: 5 facilities, 2 cases among residents, 5 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Crawford: 3 facilities, 10 cases among residents, 15 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Erie: 19 facilities, 171 cases among residents, 109 cases among employees, 39 deaths (up 6)
• Fayette: 7 facilities, 18 cases among residents, 15 cases among employees, 1 death (no change)
• Greene: 2 facilities, 2 cases among residents, 2 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Indiana: 12 facilities, 34 cases among residents, 11 cases among employees, 4 deaths (no change)
• Jefferson: 5 facilities, 10 cases among residents, 6 case among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Lawrence: 8 facilities, 51 cases among residents, 41 cases among employees, 8 deaths (no change)
• Mercer: 8 facilities, 44 cases among residents, 34 cases among employees, 2 deaths (no change)
• Somerset: 6 facilities, 4 cases among residents, 5 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Venango: 1 facility, 5 cases among residents, 0 cases among employees, 0 deaths (no change)
• Washington: 11 facilities, 59 cases among residents, 14 cases among employees, 5 deaths (no change)
• Westmoreland: 23 facilities, 206 cases among residents, 58 cases among employees, 32 deaths (no change)
• Pennsylvania: 929 facilities, 21,034 cases among residents, 4,498 cases among employees, 5,189 deaths (up 14)
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: August 31, 2020, 4:35 p.m.
