Allegheny, Westmoreland, has the highest new covid case since January

The provinces of Allegheny and Westmoreland each saw their highest number of cases since mid-January on Saturday.

Allegheny County added 653 cases, the highest since 670 were added on January 13, while Westmoreland’s 214 additional cases were the most since 277 on the same day in January.

Pennsylvania’s 5,343 new cases of coronavirus are the highest since Jan. 29, when 9,643 cases were reported. Saturday’s total for the state could have been even higher because the case’s data from Philadelphia was not updated.

The new cases in Allegheny bring the province to 87,101 in total, the second highest in the state behind Philadelphia.

Westmoreland climbed to 29,609, and Pennsylvania rose to 1,038,749.

Allegheny’s new cases (653) remained significantly higher than its seven-day average of 412 new cases per day.

Westmoreland’s seven – day average grew to 120, and Pennsylvania increased to 4,171.

Allegheny had the most cases in the state with 653, followed by Montgomery (372), Bucks (364), Berks (334) and Lancaster (249). Philadelphia, the most populous province in the state and usually one of the highest new cases, reported no new data on Saturday.

In the region, Washington and more than 100 additional businesses have joined Allegheny and Westmoreland.

Here’s a look at totals for the region, with the change from Friday:

• Armstrong: 5,224 (+17)

• Beaver: 13,383 (+68)

• Butler: 15,451 (+80)

• Fayette: 11 352 (+73)

• Indiana: 5,416 (+20)

• Somerset: 7,013 (+30)

• Washington: 15 345 (+102)

Deaths

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 40 additional deaths on Saturday, four in April and 36 in March. The state’s total rose to 25,188.

The Allegheny County Department of Health added two deaths as the total increased to 1,792. Both of these deaths occurred in March, with one related to a long-term care facility. The state health department added one death in Allegheny County, with the state’s total for the province at 1,821. The difference between the health departments is attributed to different reporting methods.

Westmoreland added one death when it rose to 707 in total.

In the region, Fayette, Indiana and Washington also added one death.

Hospitalizations

Covid hospitalizations increased slightly in the state, rising by 16 to 2187. There are 422 covid patients in ICUs across the state, with 207 on ventilators.

The hospitalizations in Allegheny County numbered six to 239, with 64 patients in an ICU and 22 on ventilators.

In Westmoreland, hospitalizations remain stable at 22, four in the ICU and two in need of ventilators.

The state health department has not yet declared its data error because hospitalizations in Westmoreland County suddenly dropped from March 17 to March 26 to March 18.

Vaccinations

More than 2.2 million people in the state have been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Department of Health and the Department of Public Health in Philadelphia.

Allegheny County has 232,245 people who have been fully vaccinated, which equates to nearly 19% of the population. Another 217,166 in the province are partially vaccinated.

In Westmoreland County, fully vaccinated numbers exceeded 60,000, accounting for 16.6% of the country. More than 50,000 got their first shots.