Allegheny County officials discussed the recent rise in COVID-19 cases during their weekly news briefing on Wednesday, calling it “alarming.” Watch the full report from Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 in the video player above. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald stressed that residents have to continue wearing masks and social distancing. “The alarming thing that we’re concerned about is the case rise,” Fitzgerald said. “We just have to keep the masks, the distancing, the things we know that we need to do and prevent what I would call a third spike that would lead to not good consequences for the folks in Allegheny County.”Video above: Allegheny County executive: Alarming rise in COVID-19 casesAllegheny County Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen also stressed the importance of mitigation measures.Bogen said this week the seven-day rolling positivity rate increased to 6% from 5.4% last week. She also said hospitalizations have started to increase in the county. Bogen said that case investigations show that people are gathering with friends in large groups and many of the gatherings are without masks and less physical distancing. “As we approach the upcoming holidays, we all want to gather with friends and family. Given the rise in cases and variants in our community, I ask that we all continue to limit our gatherings to small groups, to wear our masks, to stay physically distant and to continue to wash hands,” Bogen said. Video above: ‘Individual responsibility’ urged as cases rise againDr. Amesh Adalja is a public health expert and Pittsburgh-area doctor.He says he’s optimistic about the overall big-picture of COVID-19, largely because deaths and hospitalizations have remained lower and not overwhelmed the hospital system.According to state data, as of Wednesday night, just under 7% of the county’s total number of intensive care unit beds had COVID-19 patients. Hospitalizations and deaths are a lagging indicator, meaning we won’t know the impact of Wednesday’s case counts for a few weeks. But Adalja says the most vulnerable to COVID-19 are getting vaccinated, which will put less stress on hospitals.”We should expect to see rising cases. It’s not a question to me that cases will go up, but those cases are going to be separated now from hospitalizations and deaths because of the way the vaccine is going right now. So the key is to continue to get through those priority groups, get more people vaccinated so we continue to be able to reopen safely and stop focusing so much on cases and continue to look at hospitalizations and our vaccine rollout numbers,” Adalja said.Adalja and Bogen said following mitigation measures remain important, though, to avoid further spread when possible.”If they follow the mitigation guidelines we have in place, we’ll be fine. But I really ask that people take individual responsibility to prevent the spread of this virus and not assume that it’s just like a cold and they’re going to get over it,” Bogen said.
PITTSBURGH —
Allegheny County officials discussed the recent rise in COVID-19 cases during their weekly news briefing on Wednesday, calling it “alarming.”
Watch the full report from Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 in the video player above.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald stressed that residents have to continue wearing masks and social distancing.
“The alarming thing that we’re concerned about is the case rise,” Fitzgerald said. “We just have to keep the masks, the distancing, the things we know that we need to do and prevent what I would call a third spike that would lead to not good consequences for the folks in Allegheny County.”
Video above: Allegheny County executive: Alarming rise in COVID-19 cases
Allegheny County Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen also stressed the importance of mitigation measures.
Bogen said this week the seven-day rolling positivity rate increased to 6% from 5.4% last week. She also said hospitalizations have started to increase in the county.
Bogen said that case investigations show that people are gathering with friends in large groups and many of the gatherings are without masks and less physical distancing.
“As we approach the upcoming holidays, we all want to gather with friends and family. Given the rise in cases and variants in our community, I ask that we all continue to limit our gatherings to small groups, to wear our masks, to stay physically distant and to continue to wash hands,” Bogen said.
Video above: ‘Individual responsibility’ urged as cases rise again
Dr. Amesh Adalja is a public health expert and Pittsburgh-area doctor.
He says he’s optimistic about the overall big-picture of COVID-19, largely because deaths and hospitalizations have remained lower and not overwhelmed the hospital system.
According to state data, as of Wednesday night, just under 7% of the county’s total number of intensive care unit beds had COVID-19 patients.
Hospitalizations and deaths are a lagging indicator, meaning we won’t know the impact of Wednesday’s case counts for a few weeks. But Adalja says the most vulnerable to COVID-19 are getting vaccinated, which will put less stress on hospitals.
“We should expect to see rising cases. It’s not a question to me that cases will go up, but those cases are going to be separated now from hospitalizations and deaths because of the way the vaccine is going right now. So the key is to continue to get through those priority groups, get more people vaccinated so we continue to be able to reopen safely and stop focusing so much on cases and continue to look at hospitalizations and our vaccine rollout numbers,” Adalja said.
Adalja and Bogen said following mitigation measures remain important, though, to avoid further spread when possible.
“If they follow the mitigation guidelines we have in place, we’ll be fine. But I really ask that people take individual responsibility to prevent the spread of this virus and not assume that it’s just like a cold and they’re going to get over it,” Bogen said.