The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered Allegheny County’s community level of COVID-19 from medium to low on Thursday.
The CDC ranks a county’s COVID-19 community level as low, medium or high based on case counts, new virus-related hospital admissions and beds in hospitals used by COVID-19 patients.
The county’s level was elevated to high on May 26, and fell to medium last week, reflecting a drop in new hospitalizations related to COVID-19.
That number fell by half compared with the previous week, according to new data from the Allegheny County Health Department.
For the week ending June 15, there were 95 new virus-related hospitalizations — a decrease of 104, or 52%, compared with the previous week, the county reported Thursday. The county last reported fewer than 100 new hospitalizations in late May.
Dr. Debra Bogen, the county Health Department’s director, said continued decreasing hospitalizations are “likely attributable” to increases in vaccinations and boosters as well as “effective and increasing” availability of antivirals.
Other metrics used to track the COVID-19 pandemic are also trending down.
The Health Department reported 2,015 new cases in the past week, which is about a quarter less than the prior week. Because of the widespread use of home tests, those numbers may not be fully accurate. But wastewater monitoring, which reflects virus levels in stool and can show changes even among people who do not get tested, also indicated a decline last week of about 60-70% daily.
Dr. Bogen said a continued case decrease may be due to patient recovery from the recent omicron spike, as well as residents potentially spending more time outdoors due to many schools and universities wrapping up for the academic year.
Deaths also decreased slightly — 14 deaths from COVID-19 were reported in the last week, down from 18 the previous week. In all, there have been 3,319 deaths related to COVID-19 in the county.
The county reported that about 82% of all people ages 5 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 73% are fully vaccinated. About 56% of those eligible for a boosting dose have received one.
An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration gave the green light Wednesday to COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 years of age. They could be available as soon as next week.
Jon Moss: jmoss@post-gazette.com; Twitter: @mossjon7; 412-263-1542.
First Published: June 16, 2022, 9:07 p.m.
Updated: June 17, 2022, 9:59 a.m.
