Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County sees the most covid deaths in months

Month-long highs for covid deaths were reported in Pennsylvania and Westmoreland County on Tuesday. The additional covid deaths also continue a trend that’s been going on at the state and county level for two and three months.

Deaths

Pennsylvania reported the most additional covid deaths since late February on Tuesday, according to the State Department of Health.

77 deaths were reported, bringing the state’s death total to 25,767. Of the deaths reported Tuesday, 75 are from April and two from March. That number was the most seen since 81 were reported on Feb. 25. No 100 or more covid deaths have been reported in Pennsylvania since Feb. 17, when 193 were reported.

Likewise, Westmoreland County reported the most covid deaths in two months on Tuesday. The county reported four additional deaths, continuing the trend of single-digit death counts in the county. The last double-digit count came on January 20 when 12 deaths were reported.

Three additional covid deaths were reported in Allegheny County on Tuesday, bringing the county’s death toll to 1,837. Of the new deaths, one person was in their 70s and two in their 80s, according to the county’s health department. One death was related to a long-term care facility.

Hospital admissions

Covid hospital admissions in Pennsylvania rose again on Tuesday with 2,833 currently hospitalized records, according to state health data.

The total had risen 128 from Monday, which was the largest one-day jump in two weeks. Hospital admissions increased by 100 or more per day twice in April. As of the beginning of the month, hospital admissions are up about 36%. A month ago, the number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 was 1,529.

On Tuesday, there were also hospital admissions in Allegheny County. The county’s current total of covid hospital admissions was 281, up from 272 on Monday. In Allegheny County, the number of hospital admissions dropped every day from Wednesday to Sunday.

In neighboring Westmoreland County, hospital admissions had risen for the second day in a row. 59 covid-19 patients were hospitalized on Tuesday, compared with 54 on Monday. Like Allegheny County, Westmoreland had seen a recent series of daily decreases in covid hospital admissions from Thursday to Sunday.

Cases

Pennsylvania reported about 31% fewer cases on Tuesday than last week at the same point, according to figures from the State Department of Health.

The state reported an additional 4,577 covid-19 cases on Tuesday (2,870 confirmed, 1,707 likely), less than Tuesday’s count of 6,638. It was a welcome decrease after last week, which counted five days with more than 5,000 cases. The total number of cases in the state is now 1,113,868. The most commonly reported cases were from Allegheny County with 389. Counties in the eastern part of the state followed by Montgomery reporting 323 cases, Bucks (285), Philadelphia (260), Berks (255) and Delaware (207).

Allegheny County’s cases (234 confirmed, 155 likely) were lower than last Tuesday’s count of 430. New cases ranged in age from 3 months to 94 years, with an average age of 29. The county health department noted that Williams Research of the University of Pittsburgh The lab yesterday reported 57 new cases included in Tuesday’s figures, the majority (46) from March and the most recent from April 1. The total number of cases in Allegheny County is now 94,501.

Westmoreland County added 158 covid cases on Tuesday (42 confirmed and 116 probable). The count’s number of cases was lower than Tuesday’s report of 171. The total number of cases in Westmoreland County is now 31,693.

Vaccinations

Vaccinations for covid-19 continue statewide, with Pennsylvania reaching 1,865,467 people partially and 2,828,907 fully vaccinated. These numbers do not include Philadelphia County, which handles its own vaccine data and distribution. For reference, there were 1,874,693 people fully vaccinated as of April 1 and 2,448,072 fully vaccinated as of last Tuesday.

Allegheny County reached about 328,956 fully vaccinated people on Tuesday, representing about 26.8% of the county. As of Tuesday, 227,021 people had been partially vaccinated.

In Westmoreland County, about 12,000 more residents were fully vaccinated from April 13 to Tuesday, going from 75,771 to 87,748 in a week. In the province, about 24% of the population is now fully vaccinated. Nearly 50,000 had been partially vaccinated in Westmoreland County as of Tuesday.