Allegheny County Worried About Skyrocketing Coronavirus Cases

PITTSBURGH, PA — Allegheny County Health Department officials are increasingly concerned over the rising number of coronavirus cases and expects this week's total number of cases will top 1,000. Cases haver risen substantially in recent weeks.

"The weekly number of new cases reported to the health department stayed under 550 for all August and September," the department stated on its Facebook page. "However, by the start of October, that number began to climb. By mid-October, the county averaged about 800 new cases a week, and it approached 1,000 new cases during the last week of October.

"While data is still preliminary for much of the first week in November and this week, the Health Department expects the weekly number of new cases to top 1,000. This indicates that there is a significant amount of community spread. Without changes to personal behaviors, such as limiting parties and gatherings, cases will continue to rise. The health department is concerned that increases in serious hospitalizations and deaths will follow this span of consistently high cases."

The health department on Tuesday reported one new coronavirus death. The county death toll now stands at 448.

The county reported 317 new cases. The total number of cases in the county during the outbreak is 17,973.

There have been 1,544 hospitalizations in the county during the outbreak.

With 5,293 cases in Westmoreland County, 2,550 in Beaver County, 2,636 in Washington County and 2,4766 in Butler County, that brings the total number of cased to 30,928 when Allegheny County numbers are included.

According to the state Department of Health, there have been 790 deaths in the region from the virus: Four hundred and forty-eioght in Allegheny County, 142 in Beaver County, 123 in Westmoreland County, 42 in Washington County and 35 in Butler County.