Pennsylvania posts lowest 2-day covid case report since March 23

Apr. 19—The state's latest covid-19 new case report, issued Monday, has not been this low since the fourth week of March.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Monday a single-day new case total of 1,914 — the first below 2,000 since March 22. When combined with Sunday's single-day report of 3,761 new cases, the state's two-day total of 5,675 is the lowest two-day report since March 23 (5,093). This week's two-day report represents a 12% drop from last week's report of 6,450 cases.

The latest numbers bring the state's seven-day per day case average to 4,838, dropping below the 5,000 mark, which the state reached Sunday. Worth noting is that the state's average numbers include an anomaly from Wednesday, in which more than 900 cases from as far back as January were entered from a lab in Pittsburgh. There still has been no explanation as to why the GS Lab failed to report the cases in a more timely manner.

Cases

Of the state's latest two-day report of cases, 4,961 were confirmed through PCR tests, with 714 listed as probable cases. Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a "high-risk exposure" to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.

Among the counties reporting two-day case numbers, Philadelphia led them all with 1,063 cases. They were followed by Montgomery (507), Allegheny (428), Delaware (351) and Bucks (341).

Allegheny County health officials reported 428 new cases, about 40% lower than last week's number (717). Of the new cases, 372 were confirmed through PCR tests and 56 were listed as probable. The county's seven-day daily case average dropped below 500, even though it includes Wednesday's anomaly of more than 900 backlogged cases. The average is expected to decline even further with a normal report this Wednesday.

In Westmoreland County, 115 new cases were reported over the Sunday-Monday period — a drop of nearly 54% from last week (248). Among the new cases, 108 were confirmed and seven were listed as probable. The county's seven-day daily case average dipped slightly to 124.

Other Western Pennsylvania counties reporting, and their two-day change:

— Washington 16,348 (+41)

— Butler 16,290 (+34)

— Beaver 14,217 (+32)

— Fayette 12,018 (+29)

— Indiana 5,743 (+27)

— Somerset 7,288 (+27)

— Armstrong 5,529 (+23)

To date, there have been 1,109,291 cases in Pennsylvania, with 937,515 confirmed through PCR testing. In Allegheny County, there have been a total of 94,112 cases, 71,685 of which have been confirmed. In Westmoreland County, there have been a total of 31,535 cases, with 21,554 confirmed.

Deaths

Over the past two days, the state is reporting 29 new covid-related deaths, all of which occurred in April. To date, the state has lost 25,690 people to the virus.

On Monday Allegheny County health officials reported one new death, a person in their 80s, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,834. The state added two new covid-related deaths in the county for a total of 1,871. There has not yet been an explanation from either health department as to the discrepancy in the numbers.

In Westmoreland County, the state reported one new covid-related death, bringing the county's death total to date to 724. Over the past seven days, the county has seen 11 covid deaths, the highest the figure has been since early March.

Hospitalizations

After several days of declining hospitalization numbers, the latest information posted Monday by OpenData PA shows that 67 more state residents have been hospitalized for covid-19. A total of 2,705 are currently in facilities, with 561 of them in intensive care units and 280 on ventilators.

Since April 1, the state has seen 630 more residents hospitalized, 231 in just the past seven days.

Hospital numbers also increased in both Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, which had been experiencing even longer periods of lower numbers.

In Allegheny, 272 are in hospitals — an increase of 24. Of those, 81 are in ICUs and 39 on ventilators. Despite the uptick, Allegheny's hospital numbers are still down 12 over the past week.

In Westmoreland, 54 residents are hospitalized — an increase of four. Of those, 12 are in ICUs and six on ventilators. Westmoreland's hospital numbers are still down eight over the past six days.

Vaccinations

According to the latest information from the state, there are 5,318,388 (41.9%) people with at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine and 3,223,900 (25.4)% who have been fully vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson (which had been administered before it was halted). Those figures include the data from the city of Philadelphia, which gathers its own vaccination numbers.

In Allegheny County, there are 324,017 (26.5%) who have been fully vaccinated and 550,152 (45%) who have at least one dose.

In Westmoreland County, there are 85,651 (23.5%) who have been fully vaccinated and 136,199 (37.3%) who have at least one dose.

Chris Pastrick is a Tribune-Review digital producer. You can contact Chris at 412-320-7898, cpastrick@triblive.com or via Twitter .