Allegheny Co. Coronavirus Case Surge Could Overwhelm Hospitals

PITTSBURGH, PA — The Allegheny County Health Department on Saturday reported one new coronavirus death. The county death toll now stands at 505.

The county reported 663 new cases. There have been 27,484 cases since the outbreak began in March.

With record-setting numbers of cases reported this week, county Department of Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen offered a dire prediction for the coming weeks.

"Sadly, we anticipate that the number of cases will continue to rise due to community spread, the holiday, and the expected delayed impact of mitigation efforts," she said in a release.

“I am extremely concerned about the strain the spread of the virus will have on our healthcare workers and system. At this moment, we have enough staff and hospital capacity. However, if cases continue to rise at this rate, modeling predicts our healthcare system could be overwhelmed within a month."

There have been 1,957 hospitalizations in the county during the outbreak.

With 8,959 cases in Westmoreland County, 4511 in Washington County, 4,355 in Butler County and 3,886 in Beaver County, that brings the total number of cased to 49,195 when Allegheny County numbers are included. That's up from 46,694 on Friday.

According to the state Department of Health, there have been 994 deaths in the region from the virus: Five hundred and five in Allegheny County, 192 in Westmoreland County, 156 in Beaver County, 71 in Butler County and 70 in Washington County. That's up from 975 on Friday.