Westmoreland County Sees Another Day Of Triple-Digit Coronavirus Cases As Death Toll Rises
GREENSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) -- Due to a spike in coronavirus cases, a government office in Westmoreland County is closed after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
If you walked up to Greensburg City Hall expecting to do business or pay for a parking ticket, you were met by locked doors. A sign on the door tells the public that the building is closed for at least the next week after city management became concerned with a potential coronavirus case with one of its employees.
RELATED STORY: 'Evidence Of Community Spread': Westmoreland County Battling Increase In Coronavirus Cases
City hall joins the Westmoreland County commissioners, the county 911 center, the county jail and Westmoreland Manor in dealing with staff and or residents infected with the coronavirus.
One day after a record number of new infections in the county with 148, the state Department of Health announced another triple-digit day with 109 new reported cases on Friday, with a total of 3,020 confirmed cases and 290 probable for the year.
As county residents continue to go about their daily life — some masked, some not — everyone is getting their temperature taken when entering the courthouse. The number of those lost to coronavirus in the county increased with the new death toll at 66. The seven-day total now stands at 630 new cases.
The Westmoreland County Public Safety director said to expect more sobering numbers as Westmoreland County is just a small battleground in what's now a world war.
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"This is a worldwide epidemic. The issues we're seeing in Westmoreland County are also being seen in Europe and a lot of the other nations as well. It's not politics, it's not anything more than there is a virus out there, and you have to do what you have to do to mitigate the spread," said Bud Mertz, the director of Westmoreland County Public Safety.
As the number of new infections has increased, we've seen an increase in hospitalizations. Forty people are now in the hospital being treated for the virus. That's up about five since the beginning of the week. There 88 ventilators in the county and four are being used by coronavirus patients.
