Covid cases down, deaths rise in Allegheny County

Covid-19 deaths in Allegheny County have predictably ticked upward, trailing behind the increase in cases that started in April, according to the latest data.

Sixteen deaths were reported to the Allegheny County Health Department from May 26 to June 1 — up from four the week prior and two in the last week of April.

The county saw 16 deaths in all of May, according to health department data. Officials have said often, however, that the reporting of deaths can take time, so that number will likely increase in the early weeks of June.

In the last seven days, the county had 3,125 new cases. That’s lower than the three weeks prior — but still more than seven times the 401 reported March 31 to April 6.

Wastewater testing has show a slight increase over the past week, according to the county’s newly released wastewater dashboard — about 7% to 9% daily from the third to fourth week of May.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based infectious disease expert and critical care physician, said the increase of virus within the wastewater isn’t surprising, as it can foretell trends that might be on the horizon in a particular community.

“With cases at the level that they are, and with the increasing numbers that we’ve seen, it’s not surprising the wastewater is going to reflect that,” he said. “Wastewater is usually a leading indicator, meaning it will reflect trends that you will see in confirmed cases later.”

He said that can be of particular importance when communities are seeing a lull in cases.

“Where wastewater sampling becomes really valuable is when you have a lower level of cases and then all of a sudden you see a spike in wastewater positivity,” Adala said. “That tells you to expect cases to be occurring.”

The county does genotyping on a small number of specimens collected with PCR tests to determine which variant or subvariant they are.

Health department data indicates that the omicron BA.2 variant makes up about 52% of the county’s cases. The BA.2.12.1 makes up about 41% of cases.

The drop in new cases in Allegheny County is a mirror of what’s happening statewide. In the latest statewide report, the 24,862 new cases were 15% lower than the week prior. Pennsylvania is now averaging 3,552 new cases per day.

Despite the lower number new cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that several more counties moved from medium to high levels of covid transmission in the past week, including Westmoreland, Beaver and Butler counties. In all, the CDC lists 28 Pennsylvania counties as having high levels of covid transmission.

There are 24 counties that have a medium level of transmission, including Armstrong, Washington and Indiana. Among the low level counties — 15 of them — are Lawrence, Greene, Fayette and Somerset.

A new data dashboard released Wednesday gives an in-depth breakdown of the vaccination status of residents who are contracting the virus, being hospitalized, and dying. The data includes those who are unvaccinated, fully vaccinated and fully vaccinated with one booster.

The numbers show the vaccine works in terms of lowering the risk of severe illness and death.

In January, at the height of the omicron surge, 190 people aged 70 or older died from the virus — a rate of about 60 per 100,000. In the same month, 45 people in their 60s, 19 in their 50s, 11 in their 40s and one person in their 30s died from covid-19.

Of those who received at least one booster shot as of January, 25 died: 19 older than 70, five in their 60s and one person in their 50s.

The pattern holds for hospitalizations, too.

In January, 918 unvaccinated individuals were hospitalized with covid. Nearly three-quarters of them were 50 or older. Fifty were under the age of 20.

In the same month, 237 people who’d received at least one booster were hospitalized. More than half were over 70. Only two were under the age of 20. Booster shots were only recently recommended for children 11 and under.