Not since early October has the daily covid case report for Pennsylvania been so low.

New case numbers were down across the state, with Allegheny and Westmoreland counties posting their lowest numbers of the year — marks not seen for seven months.

On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health posted 1,023 new cases. The last time a single-day’s report was lower was 672 new cases reported on Oct. 5 — 217 days ago.

Combined with Sunday’s report of 1,376 cases, Pennsylvania’s two-day total of 2,399 new cases is the lowest posted since Oct. 19 (2,372) and a 45% decline over last week’s two-day numbers.

In addition to better news on the case front, hospitalization numbers were down Monday as well as covid-related deaths.

Cases

State health officials said Monday that Westmoreland County added just 52 cases in the past two days — more than 57% lower than last week’s two-day report (123). It’s the lowest two-day total in Westmoreland County since Oct. 1 (39).

Of Westmoreland’s newest cases, 43 cases were confirmed through PCR testing, while nine cases were listed as probable. 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.

The Allegheny County Health Department reported Monday its two-day report shows 191 new cases — 160 confirmed, 31 probable. It’s the lowest two-day total in the county since Oct. 14 (171) and 58% lower than last week’s report.

New cases ranged in age from 1 month to 92 years, with a median age of 32 years. The age-breakdown of Allegheny’s latest cases — 114 female, 77 male — are:

Ages 0-4: 8 Ages 5-12: 23 Ages 13-18: 18 Ages 19-24: 13 Ages 25-49: 88 Ages 50-64: 26 Ages 65 and over: 15

Of Pennsylvania’s latest two-day report, 2,030 covid-19 cases are confirmed and 369 are probable.

Philadelphia had the highest two-day total in the state with 387, followed by Allegheny (191), Montgomery (133), Bucks (128) and Lancaster (109). Here’s a look at other counties in the region, with their changes from Saturday:

Armstrong: 5,847 (+12) Beaver: 14,998 (+22) Butler: 17,064 (+30) Fayette: 12,722 (+18) Indiana: 6,110 (+21) Somerset: 7,728 (+11) Washington: 17,250 (+29)

To date in Pennsylvania, there have been 1,174,687 cases of covid-19, with 987,749 of them confirmed through PCR testing. Allegheny County’s total is 99,160 (75,287 confirmed), and Westmoreland County’s total is 33,347 (22,595 confirmed).

Deaths

Pennsylvania health officials reported 18 new deaths over the past two days, bringing the state’s total to 26,550 since the pandemic began in March 2020. In the first 10 days of May, the state has reported 332 deaths. In the previous 10 days, it had reported 451.

Of the state’s latest deaths, five occurred in April and 13 in May.

In Allegheny County, officials reported five new deaths, with dates of death ranging from April 30 to May 5. Two people were in their 50s, two in their 60s and one in their 80s. There have been a total of 1,905 covid-related deaths in Allegheny County since the pandemic began.

There were no new covid-related deaths added in Westmoreland County, with just two in the past week. In the past 10 days, there have been five covid deaths in the county; in the previous 10 days there were 15. The total covid deaths in Westmoreland stands at 748.

Vaccinations

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 52.6% of all Pennsylvanians (about 6.7 million) have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 36.2% (4.62 million) are considered fully vaccinated with 2 doses or the single-shot of Johnson & Johnson.

Among adults — those 18 and older — there are 45.3% (4.6 million) that are considered fully vaccinated. Gov. Tom Wolf has said he would lift the state’s mask mandate when 70% of the state’s adults are fully vaccinated. Some have questioned whether that is a realistic goal, considering the portion of vaccine hesitancy. The CDC currently shows 65.3% of Pennsylvania’s adults with at least one dose. Provided those people return for a 2nd shot, just under 500,000 more adults would need to be vaccinated to reach Wolf’s goal.

In Allegheny County, 56.7% of the county’s population has at least one dose, while 38.65% are fully vaccinated.

In Westmoreland County, 43.36% have at least one dose, while 32.29% are fully vaccinated.

Hospitalizations

According to the latest data from OpenSource PA, there are currently 1,798 Pennsylvanians hospitalized for covid-19 — a drop of 126 from Saturday. The state’s seven-day average of hospitalized covid patients is 1,992, the first time since late March it’s been below 2,000.

Of those state residents in care facilities, 406 are in intensive care units and 241 on ventilators.

In Allegheny County, there are 150 covid-19 patients in hospitals, with 50 in ICUs and 26 on ventilators. Allegheny’s hospitalization numbers dropped by 30 since Saturday and by more than 140 in just over two weeks.

In Westmoreland County, 26 residents are in the hospital for covid-19, with four of them in the ICU and none on a ventilator. It’s the first time since early March that no covid-19 patients in Westmoreland County require ventilators.

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