Pa. sets one-day record for COVID cases

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

The increase in COVID-19 continued Tuesday as Pennsylvania broke its single-day record for new cases, Westmoreland County saw its most COVID-related deaths since May and Allegheny County pushed past 15,000 total cases.

The state recorded 2,751 new cases Tuesday, which is the largest daily increase to date, according to the Department of Health. The new statewide total is 198,446 cases. There were 23 new deaths, which increased that total to 8,696.

In Westmoreland County, there were four more reported deaths from COVID-19, which is the most in one day’s reporting since May, according to the DOH.

This comes as Westmoreland County is coming off of its second week in the substantial transmission of COVID-19 category as recorded by the state.

The state’s COVID-19 early warning monitoring dashboard system categorizes counties by the level of community transmission over the previous seven-day period and determines if they fall into the low, moderate or substantial categories.

The state’s Department of Education recommends schools move to fully remote learning in counties that are in the substantial category, but the majority of districts have chosen not to return to a fully remote model at this time.

Westmoreland County had 72 new cases reported Tuesday for a new total of 4,169 cases.

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