Pa. hits ‘concerning milestone’ in COVID-19 fight

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

This week started with the news that every county in Pennsylvania except one is in the substantial community transmission of COVID-19 category after last week’s numbers were reported.

In the Mon Valley, Allegheny, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties all find themselves in the substantial transmission category.  

Statewide, Pennsylvania added 41,424 cases last week, which determines the community transmission rate.

The state has reached a “concerning milestone” in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday.

Levine said the state’s percent positivity rate — measuring the number of COVID-19 tests that come back with positive results — is now over 12%. Health experts have said any rate above 5% is cause for concern.

“Pennsylvania continues to trend in the wrong direction as COVID-19 continues to spread,” Gov. Tom Wolf said. “Last week, we took a number of mitigation steps designed to reverse this trend and help protect Pennsylvanians. We need all Pennsylvanians to follow these measures as part of their collective responsibility to protect one another.”  

Allegheny County added 869 new cases on Friday alone and added another 920 new cases between Sunday and Monday. It’s a significant drop in cases to have a one-day total amount spread over two days, but Allegheny County Health Department believes the dip is related to a decline in testing over the holiday and not a reflection of a drop in new cases.

Despite the drop, Allegheny still posted the highest county total from that two-day period.

There were four additional deaths as well, for new totals of 28,404 cases and 510 deaths.

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Tuesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.