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COVID-19 deaths rise in Allegheny County

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Allegheny County announced eight new COVID-19 deaths Wednesday as positive case counts continued to rise in most counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The county also announced 96 new cases after a string of days when that number stretched into triple digits and into the 300s.

“Unfortunately we have at least another year of dealing with this virus,” Allegheny Health Department Director Debra Bogen said Wednesday.

There are early signs that mitigation efforts put in place more than three weeks ago might be working, Bogen said.

The COVID-19 test positivity rate has fallen from 12% when the county’s mitigation order was issued to under 6% Wednesday, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said.

“It’s really a credit to this community,” Fitzgerald said.

Allegheny County announced Wednesday evening that it has created a COVID Field Response Team. Starting today, the team will visit businesses to see if they are following safety precautions including the state’s universal masking order, recent orders regarding bars and restaurants, occupancy restrictions and physical distancing requirements

During each visit, team members will complete a checklist and provide a copy of that checklist and education materials to management on site. The business’ name, date of the visit and a copy of the checklist will be posted to the county’s website. The site will be accessible through the county’s COVID-19 page, https://alleghenycounty.us/cororavirus. The first checklists are not expected to be published until Friday.

Complaints regarding establishments that are violating the health department order may be made through the Allegheny County Support Center webform (select Request a Service, then health department to begin) or by calling the Information Center at 412-350-INFO (412-350-4636).

Meanwhile, Washington County added 11 new cases of the virus, taking its total Wednesday to 603. Fayette County’s case count reached 288 after nine new cases were announced that day. Greene County stood at 91 with no new cases reported.

Bars that don’t sell food were still under a state order to close to help prevent the spread of the disease. Some of them began to offer dollar hot dogs to customers as a loophole to remain open, Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday.

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