New cases of coronavirus down in Pa.
By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported fewer new cases of COVID-19 Friday, with the figure dropping by more than 200.
For the second time this week, the state lost 78 people to the virus, bringing the death total to 416 statewide.
The DOH reported 1,751 new cases Friday, raising the total number of people who have tested positive to 19,979.
Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said 955 of those infected are health care workers and 1,209 are patients who live in 181 long-term care facilities across the state.
Of the nearly 20,000 who have tested positive, there are 2,069 currently hospitalized, which is about 11% of the total case count.
Of those, Levine said, 589 are on ventilators and about 70% of the state’s ventilators remain available at this time. She said 45% of the state’s hospital beds also remain available.
“We know that more will be needed from our health care system, which has done so much already and we thank them,” Levine said Friday. “We would like to thank everyone in the health care system — in our hospitals, our health systems, nursing homes, personal care homes, EMS workers, really everyone, so much, for their courageous work.
“The best way we can support them is to stay calm, stay home and to stay safe.”
Allegheny County has reported 788 positive cases and has now recorded 18 deaths. It’s an increase of 29 cases and six deaths.
In Fayette County, four more people have been diagnosed with coronavirus, bringing the total to 49. One person has died of the illness.
In Washington County, there have been 66 confirmed cases of the virus, an increase of three, and no deaths reported.
In Westmoreland County, there are 202 cases, which is an increase of a dozen new patients.
The question of how many people have died in the county seems to be more difficult to answer.
According to the DOH, five people have died due to the virus, an increase of four deaths from Thursday.
But Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha reported Friday morning that an additional 10 people passed away because of coronavirus before the state’s updated numbers were released at noon. At the time, the state was reporting one death in the county and he said there were 11. The state figures updated at noon showed five deaths.
Bacha told Trib Total Media that all 10 of the cases he knew of had ties to four nursing homes that he declined to name. He said three of the people died in a hospital and the others died in the nursing homes.
The reporting delay is attributed to the system employed by the state’s health department, which requires the state to sign off on all COVID-19 related deaths as part of a central system that excludes county coroners, Bacha said.
Nate Wardle, a spokesman for the state health department, confirmed that reporting of coronavirus deaths rests with doctors and hospitals and not county coroners. Reports of COVID-19 deaths are kept in a central registry administered by the health department.
“A death attended to by a medical professional, which includes a physician, certified registered nurse practitioner, physician assistant or dentist who is a staff member of a licensed health care facility, does not need to be referred to a coroner. These medical professionals, through their hospital, would have access to our data system,” Wardle said.
