Delay In Testing Makes Up More Than Half Of Allegheny County's Record-Breaking 331 New Coronavirus Cases
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Allegheny County Health Department is reporting 331 new Coronavirus cases Tuesday, and one additional death.
That's the highest single-day case count ever for the county.
The county-wide total number of cases now stands at 5,364 since March 14. There are 5,170 confirmed cases and 194 probable cases.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reports that of today's 331 reported cases, 186 of them are because of the reporting delay with a private lab. Therefore, Allegheny County had an increase of 145 cases within the past 24 hours.
The County Health Department says today's results come from more than 4,500 tests spanning from June 8 through July 13. Health officials say in their daily press release that they are working with the testing laboratory on the lag in results.
In the press release, they say, "Positive results are from tests that span June 8 through July 13. The Allegheny County Health Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Health are working with the laboratory to determine why there appears to be a lag in test results and hopes to have additional information for tomorrow's briefing."
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald told KDKA it's actually not uncommon for there to be an apparent lag in test results.
"Sometimes on a Monday or a Tuesday, you'll see much different numbers. They call it a data dump. A lot of data will come in and get dumped all at once -- that might be for the last three, four, five days."
The tests in question were from a combination of several testing sources like hospitals, doctors offices and mobile labs, according to Fitzgerald. He said the results are reported to the state, which then sends them to the county.
The county is now combing through data to determine how weeks went by and results weren't in.
Fitzgerald told KDKA, until there's a vaccine, the current safety precautions being taken in the county need to continue.
"We want to make sure people continue to wear their masks. Stay home if you can. Be careful of vacations," he said.
The county said it is now beginning contact tracing on all of the new cases and hopes to provide more information about the more than six-week testing lag during a Wednesday briefing.
In the newest cases, the Health Department says patient ages range from 5-months to 99-years-old with the median age being 30.
Officials report that 477 patients have been or are presently hospitalized among all cases; that's seven more patients hospitalized since Monday's report. Of the hospitalized patients, 169 of them have needed care in the ICU, and 79 of them have required treatment with a ventilator.
The death toll stands at 199, with 187 confirmed deaths and 12 are probable. A probable death is when a person had not had a positive test for COVID-19.
This is the COVID-19 Daily Update from the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) for July 14, 2020.
Today's report of 5,364 cases includes 331 new cases, 7 new hospitalizations and 1 additional death out of 4,536 test results. pic.twitter.com/uoi9EcWbHg
— Allegheny County Health Department (@HealthAllegheny) July 14, 2020
We hope to have additional information for tomorrow's briefing.
More detailed information is available on the county's dashboard at https://t.co/8iZNA5dcpr
— Allegheny County Health Department (@HealthAllegheny) July 14, 2020
The Health Department says 53% of all Coronavirus patients are female, and 47% of them are male.
The highest number of cases remains in the 25-49 age bracket. It has grown to 41%. The 50-64 age group has 19% of the cases, and the 65 and older age group has 17% of them.
Here is the daily age breakdown:
- 00-04 – 57 (1%)
- 05-12 – 86 (2%)
- 13-18 – 162 (3%)
- 19-24 – 952 (18%)
- 25-49 – 2,188 (41%)
- 50-64 – 998 (19%)
- 65 + -- 921 (17%)
Health officials say 82,587 individuals have been tested for COVID-19 across the county.
More information on the Coronavirus pandemic:
- CDC Coronavirus Information
- CDC Global Map of Confirmed COVID-19 Cases
- Pennsylvania Department of Health Information
- Allegheny County Health Department Information
Stay with KDKA for the latest on the developing story.
