COVID-19 cases stabilize in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh’s surge in COVID-19 cases that forced the July 3 closure of bars in Allegheny County has stabilized, state Health Secretary Rachel Levine said Tuesday.
However, the Gov. Tom Wolf administration has no plans “at this time to roll back” reduced occupancy rates at restaurants statewide under an order he issued two weeks ago that also closed bars that don’t sell food.
“Today’s cases are still increasing,” Levine said during a Tuesday briefing on COVID-19.
Amie Downs, spokeswoman for Allegheny County, agreed that the new case counts in that county were “pretty level,” but higher than officials there would like to see.
There were 1,120 new cases of the virus announced that day in Pennsylvania, 119 of which were in Allegheny, marking the sixth straight day of new cases having been in three digits in that county.
The daily case counts were still inching up locally. There were 18 new COVID-19 cases in Washington County, taking its total to 699. There was one new case in Greene County, whose number rose to 100. Fayette County experienced 22 new cases to its total that rose to 336, according to state Health Department records.
Levine said all of the state’s 693 nursing homes have complied with a mandate to test all residents and employees for COVID-19. The report on the testing is due in 41 days.
The homes have been hit extremely hard by the disease, with infections having come from the communities where they are located, Levine said.
The seven new deaths announced Tuesday in Allegheny were all associated with long-term care facilities, its health department said.
Levine, a transgender woman who has been mocked for her sexual orientation during the pandemic, also responded Tuesday to the transphobia that has been directed at her.
She said her critics may think they are only expressing their displeasure at her, but their actions “perpetuate the spirit of intolerance.”
“To the young people it is OK to be you,” Levine said.