Patient dies in Allegheny County; two new cases in Washington
The first COVID-19-related death in Allegheny County has been confirmed.
The county Health Department reported Saturday an adult who had been hospitalized died. A spokesman for Allegheny Health Network said that patient was being treated at Jefferson Hospital. The county and AHN have not provided further information.
Washington County, meanwhile, is up to five positive cases, according to the state Department of Health website. Positive test results for two individuals came in Friday night.
“It would be nice to know something about them, but we really don’t,” county Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan said. “That’s a disadvantage to not having our own health department. It would be nice to know the general area where they live and work.”
Two new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Allegheny County, where there are now 31, according to the health department there. Five individuals are hospitalized.
At a briefing at the health department Saturday afternoon, Dr. Debra Bogen, director of Allegheny County Health Department, said the individuals in the new cases have not been hospitalized, are in isolation at home, live in the city of Pittsburgh and may have traveled out of state recently. One person is 60-and-over, one is over 70.
The death is the second in Pennsylvania attributed to the novel coronavirus outbreak. Carmine Fusco, 55, of Northampton County, succumbed Wednesday in eastern Pennsylvania – five days after his sister, Rita-Fusco-Jackson, a New Jersey resident in her 50s, died.
In what has essentially become a daily briefing, state Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine said there were 103 new cases statewide Saturday, raising the total to 371 in 28 counties. “We had 83 new cases (Friday),” Levine said.
She added 3,766 Pennsylvanians have tested negative for COVID-19.
Levine said the recent spike is “because more people are infected. New cases are increasing at an exponential rate. We’re doubling cases every two or more days. It’s not just increased testing.”
She stressed only individuals who are displaying any symptoms of the illness – coughing, fever, difficulty breathing – will be tested.
Asked how long it could take for a slowdown in new COVID-19 cases, called a flattening of the curve, the secretary said: “This is new ground. This is the novel coronavirus. We don’t have specific information.”
Levine added little is known about how the virus affects pregnant women, whom she said “will be treated like all patients.” The secretary noted, however, there have been no reports of issues related to women who have had babies during the crisis in China, where the outbreak began.
She said the commonwealth is working with hospitals and health systems, along with companies, to acquire more beds, ventilators and personal protective equipment in the effort to curtail the spread of this illness.
“Each day we tell you how important it is to stay calm, stay home, stay safe. This virus is deadly,” Levin said. “But Pennsylvanians are strong and resilient. Together, we will get through this.”