Allegheny Co. Health Dept. Attributes Significant Rise In Coronavirus Cases To Community Spread From Halloween Parties, Gatherings
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Allegheny County Health Department is reporting 317 new Coronavirus cases and one additional death.
Of the newly reported cases, 236 are confirmed from 1,608 PCR tests. There are 81 probable cases.
The county Health Department is attributing this recent significant rise in cases to community spread due to parties and gatherings, specifically for Halloween.
"The Health Department encourages people not to attend parties or gatherings while the county's case counts are high and to take precautions such as wearing masks and keeping physical distance between you and others if you do," the Health Department says.
"New cases range in age from 1 year to 105 years with a median age of 37 years," according to the Health Department. The dates of positive tests range from Oct. 30 to Nov. 9.
There have been 1,554 hospitalizations in Allegheny County since the outbreak began. Of all the hospitalized patients, 395 of them have needed care in the ICU, and 149 of them have required treatment with a ventilator.
The county-wide death toll has reached 448. The newest reported death is associated with a long-term care facility. The patient was in their 80s and died on Oct. 28.
There have been 17,973 total coronavirus cases among Allegheny County residents since the pandemic started.
This is the COVID-19 Daily Update from the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) for November 10, 2020.
In the last 24 hours, 317 new cases were reported to the Health Department. Of these, 236 are confirmed cases from 1,608 new PCR tests. There are 81 probable cases. pic.twitter.com/CfSZxWfCMV
— Allegheny County Health Department (@HealthAllegheny) November 10, 2020
Since March 14, there have been 17,973 cases of COVID-19 in Allegheny County residents, 1,544 hospitalizations and 448 deaths.
— Allegheny County Health Department (@HealthAllegheny) November 10, 2020
Health officials say 232,858 individuals have been tested for COVID-19 across the county.
The Health Department is asking people throughout the county to avoid gatherings due to the rising case counts. They are concerned these counts could soon turn into rising hospitalizations and deaths.
They say, "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."
More information on the Coronavirus pandemic: