New covid-19 instances in Allegheny County have been drastically reduced in the past two weeks, but the region still has “a lot in the community,” and officials fear that schools and sports systems will resume safely in the coming weeks.
That the situation was presented Wednesday through the county’s public health leader.
In the first two weeks of July, more than 5,000 residents tested positive for covid-19. That’s a positive rate topping 9%, data show. In the second half of July, the positivity rate fell to 7.5% — an improvement but still far higher than the region’s goal of 5% or less.
The authorities attributed the increase in early July to the reopening of the bars.
“If we continue to do all the things we communicate about and stay alert as a community, we will see the numbers continue to decline,” Dr. Debra Bogen, director of fitness for Allegheny County, told reporters at a virtual press conference. presented through Rich Fitzgerald, Allegheny County Director.
Schools and universities ‘must be mobilized’
Among the 3 emerging demanding situations cited through Bogen and Fitzgerald: the return of academics living in dormitories and the organization of home parties; the reopening of K-12 schools in the region; and greater participation in touch sports at all ages.
“We’re entering another phase that will be very difficult for all of us, and that’s the opening of schools,” Fitzgerald said. “In fact, we need to make sure that everyone wears their masks, staying as remote as imaginable and acting responsibly so that we can continue to achieve the good fortune we’ve noticed in recent weeks.”
Schools in the region are taking other approaches to their fall semesters, ranging from a completely virtual transition to a return to campus with more security measures and an addition of the two methods. Fitzgerald suggested that academics “put pressure on their peers” to wear a mask if necessary.
“When you’re in class, you have to wear that mask,” Fitzgerald said. “We have you to have a smart fall, where we can have activities like gambling and other activities that we would like to return to a safe normal in the event of a pandemic.”
To higher education students, Fitzgerald said, “Generations before you, college students asked to go ‘across the pond’ and put yourself in harm’s way to fight a war. We’re in a different kind of war. We’re in a war with a virus. But we need your help.”
Keeping close eye on contact sports
Neither Bogen nor Fitzgerald issued a general that schools deserve not to open or that school or recreational sport deserves to stop. But either said officials would closely monitor any correlation between these activities and case increases.
“I’m very involved with contact sports when our number of cases is higher and young people have an asymptomatic spread,” Bogen said when asked if some sports would be canceled. “I know there’s been an animated conversation, and at this point I’m going to keep my mind until we have more knowledge about the sport. But it’s a challenge, that’s for sure.”
Not all sports offer the same risk, Bogen said.
“Contact sports are very different from tennis or golf,” she says. “Whether you play them or not, I think, a lot about the number of instances and the direction we take.”
The general public is also cautious and continues to practice social estrangement, Fitzgerald said.
“We encourage people to continue to patronize their restaurants, but do it in a safer way,” he said. “Let’s continue to drive those numbers down and continue to open up as much as we can and operate in as normal a manner as we can.”
Bogen also cited persistent considerations about infections similar to the circle of family members, meetings, occasions and celebrations.
“I heard stories from all over the country about the total number of sick families and enjoyed those who died at garden barbecues and graduation parties,” Bogen said. “We’ll have to stay at weddings and funerals as well.”
New instances dropped, but not enough
Bogen cited several positive observations. After reaching a maximum of approximately 250 consistent with the week, the number of new instances of covid-19 has been less than one hundred for 4 of the last five days.
The number of new bodies similar to bars and restaurants has halved in the past two weeks, after the government implemented stricter measures, a temporary ban on alcohol intake on the spot and now requires consumers to eat if they drink alcohol on the spot.
County workers who were moved from their regular roles to help with contact tracing and case investigations have been sent back to their primary positions as of this week because there is less need for them, Bogen said.
Out of state also appears to be declining as summer ends, according to Bogen, and no position has more than two digits of coronavirus cases.
Of 742 restaurants and other establishments visited by health inspectors in the past two weeks, 87% “were following all of the rules and are listed in green status on the county’s website,” Bogen said. Staff not wearing or not properly wearing face coverings continues to be the most common issue that businesses need to address, Bogen said.
But there’s also some disturbing facts. The county aims to fall below a threshold of 50 instances consisting of 100,000 people, and reported a point 3 times more consistent than that rate in the last week of July, Bogen said.
Getting enough tests and prompt results remains a problem.
The county is still “well below” the Wolf administration’s control bar, Bogen said. Testing is a priority for symptomatic patients, and then for others who have close contact with cases, with other asymptomatic or curious people, last but not least, if they can be controlled.
“Our ability to test is not yet where I need it,” Bogen said. “I hope that this will accumulate in the short or long term and that other people who care about having it can simply get tested. But right now, we just don’t have that capability here.”
Early in the day, the county’s fitness branch reported 70 new cases of covid-19, hospitalizations and five deaths.
Allegheny County has reported a total of 8,512 cases, 701 hospitalizations and 248 deaths since March. From 701 beyond and providing hospitalizations, 209 were admitted to an intensive care unit and 87 enthusiasts required.
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