Allegheny County reports 140 new positive COVID-19 cases Thursday, some date back to June

PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County reported 140 new positive cases and one additional death Thursday, according to the Allegheny County Health Department.

With Thursday’s new cases, the county’s total is now at 5,750 cases. The new positive cases come out of 2,817 test results from June 30 through July 14.

In the newest cases, ages range from 2 to 94 years old with the average age being 33.

The total number of people who have died from coronavirus complications is 205.

There has also been 12 new hospitalizations.

New cases in Allegheny County remain among the highest statewide, but a closer look at the data shows evidence of progress being made.

Since Monday, the county’s positivity rate has been below 10 percent, hitting a low of five percent on Thursday, the lowest in several weeks.

“The data seems to suggest we’ve got miles to go before we sleep, but things aren’t as bad as some people project,” said Duquesne University Provost Dr. David Dausey.

He points to a significant jump in reported testing over the last several days as an important step in getting the pandemic under control.

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“If you can identify who’s been sick, and then identify who they’ve been in contact with and quarantine them, you successfully limit the spread of disease. Without that tool, you can’t. You have to have testing to be able to do that,” Dausey said.

One concern is with the 12 new hospitalizations Allegheny County reported today, the highest jump since early May.

But to this point , hospitalizations have risen at a much slower rate than new cases and local hospitals report they have plenty of ICY beds and ventilators.

One thing we’ve consistently seen over the last week or so has been the lag of test results, with today’s spanning two weeks. That’s largely because of backlogs in private labs, a problem nationwide. It’s something county and state health departments hope will be resolved quickly.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 781 new positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 98,446.

There are 6,973 total deaths attributed to COVID-19, an increase of 16 new deaths reported.

The break down of cases by county can be found HERE.

There are 885,195 patients who have tested negative to date.

Allegheny Co. officials say jump in COVID-19 cases is concerning Allegheny Co. officials say jump in COVID-19 cases is concerning

Cox Media Group