Coronavirus In Allegheny County: Health Officials Say Only 1 Percent Of The County's 1.2M Residents Have Been Tested
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - One new case of COVID-19 is too many, but the Allegheny County Health Department says the number of new cases here continues to be flat.
So far less than 10 percent of the people who have been tested for the Coronavirus have tested positive.
The head of the Allegheny County Health Department Dr. Debra Bogen cautions that only about 1 percent of the county's 1.2 million people have been tested. That level of testing isn't enough to draw broad conclusions about the infection rate countywide.
Dr. Bogen says much more testing is needed across the entire population and not just among those showing symptoms, which has been the criteria up until now.
"Remember, this is a novel virus and all those who have not yet been infected are still at risk of getting it when we loosen those stay-at-home orders," she says.
"We don't know what proportion of our community has had the virus and therefore might be protected by immunity. But we think it's really very, very low. No more than a few percent based on our hospitalizations in our region. Therefore, most people in our region remain at risk."
Dr. Bogen renewed calls for the vigilance by those over 60 and especially over 65.
Allegheny County has found 15 additional cases through its ongoing contact tracing, a process that is ramping up.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has been in contact with the Wolf administration and expects restrictions in our region will start to be lifted before the harder hit counties in the Philadelphia region.
However he cautions when restrictions start coming off, it will be to a new normal that will include many of the mitigation efforts currently in place. He says social distancing and face covers could be with us until there is a vaccine against COVID-19.
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