Citing a recent increase of COVID-19 cases, two members of Allegheny County Council are proposing an ordinance on Tuesday that would establish countywide mask requirements for indoor gatherings and outdoor gatherings of over 250 people.
According to the proposal, individuals in these locations found not wearing at least a single-layer cloth mask that fully covers both the nose and mouth would face a fine of up to $100.
The ordinance is co-sponsored by Democrats Olivia Bennett and Bethany Hallam and will be introduced at the 5 p.m. meeting. If eventually passed, the ordinance would last through April 30, 2022, unless amended by the council.
"I would like to see it be required that anyone who goes in public spaces wears a mask. At least until everyone has the ability to be vaccinated," Ms. Hallam said at council meeting in early August. She was unavailable for comment Monday.
The proposal cites findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that more than 50% of infections are transmitted by non-symptomatic individuals, and that transmission likelihood peaks in the days before symptoms appear. When using cloth masks, the spread of exhaled droplets is reduced by up to 70%.
If passed by council majority, the ordinance would need approval by county Executive Rich Fitzgerald. A spokesperson for the county provided no comment on how Mr. Fitzgerald planned to act on the legislation.
When council first passed a paid sick leave bill, Mr. Fitzgerald vetoed it even though he agreed with its intent. Instead, he preferred it to originate with the county health department, which he said would give it more legal protection, and the department produced one that was introduced in council Aug. 31.
A council committee voted to recommend it Sept. 8, and it is set for a final vote Tuesday.
The state Department of Health on Monday reported a three-day total of 12,406 cases and 33 deaths from COVID-19.
Percent positivity for the week of Sept. 3-9 was 9.1%.
The state said more than 6 million residents are fully vaccinated — about 67% of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older are fully vaccinated — and said it has administered nearly 55,500 additional doses to people who are immunocompromised.
Since the pandemic began, the state has reported at total of 1,350,719 cases and 28,568 deaths.
According to the state health department, children aged 5-18 are infected at a rate nearly 10 times greater than this time in 2020.
In 2020 (between Sept. 4 and Sept. 10), there were a total of 574 COVID-19 cases in the age group. This year, between Sept. 2 and Sept. 8, there were 5,371 cases within the same group.
Allegheny County on Monday recorded 1,048 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 72 hours. The county also announced three new deaths.
As has been the case throughout the pandemic, the age group representing the largest number of cases is the 25-49 group, which had 440 new cases, according to the latest data. Children under the age of 12 had 168 cases.
Of the three deaths, two occurred in August and one in September. One of the deaths was in the 25-49 age group and two were in the 65-and-over age group, according to the county.
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, there have been 114,110 cases of COVID-19, 7,794 hospitalizations and 2,097 deaths.
The week-over-week rise in the state’s cases was less than the prior week’s growth, and that was even with much of the commonwealth’s schools having been open for in-person instruction for two weeks, according to the health department’s updated seven-day dashboard.
For the seven-day period ending on Sept. 9, the department says there were a total of 19,380 new virus cases reported, which is a 1,154-case increase over the prior week, or a 6.3% rise. A week earlier, as of Sept. 2, the state Department of Health’s COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard indicated a seven-day, week-over-week rise in cases of 1,346, which at the time was an 8.4% rise. The week before that, cases had risen by 17%, and before that the rises had been in the mid-to-low 20s range.
The daily average of hospitalizations for the period ending on Sept. 9 was 2016.3, which was a rise of 196.6 according to the state Health Department. That’s a 10.8% rise, which is down from the nearly 18% rise that last week’s seven-day, week-over-week rise of 276 hospitalizations represented. Two weeks earlier, the rise had been nearly 31%, and the week before that, the rise had been roughly 50% week-over-week.
The spreading virus is increasing hospitalizations, though at a slower rate than in previous weeks, according to the seven-day average of daily hospitalizations for the period ending on Sept. 9. That slowdown is also reflected by the longer-term 14-day statewide average of virus hospitalizations, with the average as of Sept. 12 being 1,988.1, up from 1,762 on Sept. 5, and 1,471.6 on Aug. 29. The latest rise represents a 12.8% increase, compared to the prior week’s rise of about 20%.
Capitolwire contributed.
First Published: September 13, 2021, 11:28 p.m.
Updated: September 14, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
