313 new coronavirus cases reported in Allegheny County, 11 deaths - TribLIVE

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Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 313 new coronavirus cases, as case counts have seen a relative bump up and hospitalizations have significantly increased.

Reports haven’t reached 500 cases in nearly six weeks and the county hasn’t reported any 1,000-case days in the past eight weeks, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department.

The seven-day average is 264 cases, up 31 from the previous week.

Eleven covid-related deaths were reported Saturday, increasing the county’s toll to 1,669.

That’s 40 more total deaths than at the same time last week. Two weeks before there was an increase of 46. Thursday’s numbers included 24 deaths, the highest report for the week.

The dates of death reported Saturday occurred from Feb. 14 to Wednesday. One person was in their 60s; four people were in their 70s; five people were in their 80s; and one person was in their 90s. Three deaths were associated with long-term care facilities.

The county has amassed 76,449 cases of covid-19 since the start of the pandemic last March, according to the county Health Department.

Of the new cases, 241 are confirmed, and 72 are listed as probable. Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

The recent batch of samples comprising 1,302 tests was collected from Feb. 12 through Friday. Of those, 121 tests were more than a week old, officials said.

The tests yielded a positivity rate of about 18.5%. The cases range in age from 10 months to 91 years old, with a median age of 34.

Ten new hospitalizations were reported. Officials say 5,103 people have been hospitalized — 354 more than at the same time the preceding week — since the virus was first reported in Allegheny County on March 14. Of those hospitalized, 914 were admitted to an intensive care unit.

A day from closing out February, Allegheny County has reported 7,081 covid-19 cases, which is an average of 263 per day — about the same as last week, but down about 18 cases per day from two weeks ago.

Last month, 15,559 cases were reported — an average of 502 per day.

Throughout December, the county had amassed 25,405 new cases. This represents about 34% of Allegheny County’s cases. That averaged 820 per day.

In November, officials recorded 12,608 new cases. December more than doubled that amount.

In the entirety of October, the county saw 3,448 new cases of the virus, which was an increase of 72% from September (2,001).

According to the Allegheny County covid website, officials are estimating that more than 71,500 people have now recovered from the virus.

The website counts people as recovered based on one of two conditions: It’s been 32 days since the person was hospitalized for covid-19 and survived; and if they were not hospitalized, 14 days since they tested positive.

Samson X Horne is a Tribune-Review digital producer. You can contact Samson at 412-320-7845, shorne@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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