Higher COVID-19 numbers raise reporting questions

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

The Allegheny County Health Department warned people not to read too much into the relatively low new-case count Monday as testing and results usually slow over the weekend.

After 71 new positive coronavirus cases were reported Monday, there were 331 new cases reported Tuesday. 

According to the state department of health, 145 of those 331 cases were reported in the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday’s report. The remaining cases were added to the county’s total, but were from tests that had been taken between June 8 and Monday.

“The Allegheny County Health Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Health are working with the laboratory to determine why there appears to be a lag in test results and hopes to have additional information for (today’s) briefing,” ACHD said in a statement.

Likewise, there were 929 new cases statewide reported Tuesday, but the state department of health said nearly a quarter of those results were also due to a lag in lab reporting.

Statewide, 216 of the new cases resulted from the delay in private lab result reporting, according to the state health department.

The Republican-controlled Legislature mounted another effort Tuesday to strip some emergency disaster powers from Gov. Tom Wolf, as well as future governors, in the latest partisan fight over how the Democrat has handled the coronavirus pandemic in Pennsylvania.

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