Allegheny County has 13 new COVID-19 deaths
Allegheny County has made progress in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in the past week at a critical time when public schools prepare to reopen during the pandemic, the county executive said Wednesday.
The percentage of positive test results dropped in that county to 3.9%, the lowest it has been since June, when nonessential businesses began to reopen, county executive Rich Fitzgerald said.
“We’ve actually seen very good progress,” he said during his weekly briefing on the virus.
Allegheny announced 13 new COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, with nine of them linked to long-term care facilities.
The department also announced 70 new cases of the disease, marking the sixth consecutive day in which the number was below three digits.
In Allegheny, 273 people have died from the virus and 9,078 people have tested positive since March.
County Health Department Director Debra Bogen said contact tracers are beginning to link the spread of the virus to sports, but that visits to bars and restaurants and private parties continued to be the most common places where people acquired the disease.
About half of the people who contracted the virus still don’t know where they were exposed, Bogen said.
“We all have a part to play to control this virus, she said. “The virus is not a hoax. This virus is not a rumor.”
Fitzgerald said the county wants to wait to see what happens with the spread of the virus after schools reopen before considering to ease mitigation efforts.
He also said restaurant owners who have been threatening to disregard a state order and reopen at full capacity will “put the rest of the economy at risk.
“One thing I have learned is how quickly this virus can take off,” he said.
Bogen said she has learned that summer heat does not kill the virus as it has done with others in the past.
Meanwhile, Washington County saw nine new cases of the novel coronavirus, taking its total Wednesday to 871, the state Health Department said.
Greene County added one new case to its total of 118. Fayette County added 20 new cases to its total of 582. There were no new deaths announced Wednesday in Washington, Greene or Fayette counties.