42 New Cases of COVID-19 Reported in Erie County

CDC/Erie Reader

The office of Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper reported 42 new positive cases of COVID-19 today. This marks the largest single-day total of new cases in Erie County by more than ten new cases. This brings our cumulative total to 1,025 positive cases, as our total moves into quadruple digits for the first time. 

"The 42 new cases are concerning,", Erie County Department of Health director Melissa Lyon stated. "This demonstrates that the virus is clearly circulating in the community. 

"Half of today's numbers are related to longterm care facility testing for outbreak mitigation," Lyon explained. 

"Eighteen of the new cases are connected to known positives," Lyon clarified. "This indicates that disease is being rapidly identified by the Erie County Department of Health disease investigators and contact tracers."

"As you can see, this pandemic isn't over," Dahlkemper said. "These numbers indicate the need for more testing and quicker turnaround time on results."

"One thing you can do right now – in addition to keeping a 6-foot distance from others, washing your hands frequently, and wearing a mask – is to not put yourself in unsafe situations where people are not adhering to guidelines," Dahlkemper advised.

There have been 17,966 total negatives, with 179 reported yesterday. There have been 794 recovered cases, with six announced today, for a total of 206 current active cases. Today, two additional deaths of Erie County residents due to COVID-19 were reported, bringing our total to 25.

Erie County's cumulative positive case total has more than doubled in a little over six weeks.  

The following are the new cases totals for the previous week (154 over seven days), according to the Erie County Department of Health:

Tuesday, Aug. 4: 42

Monday, Aug. 3: 16

Sunday, Aug. 2: 13

Saturday, Aug. 1: 31

Friday, July 31: 18

Thursday, July 30: 14

Wednesday, July 29: 20

As per the PA Department of Health, the totals in that order were 42, 17, 13, 32, 20, 14, and 22. Due to differing data collection times, single-day totals will have some discrepancies. 

Outside of Erie County's statistics, Pennsylvania, saw 854 additional positive cases reported today, for a total of 115,009. So far, there have been 7,232 deaths statewide, with 23 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. 1,156,520 Pennsylvanians have tested negative to date, with 14,106 negative tests yesterday. 

According to the CDC, the US has a total of 4,649,102 total cases with 47,576 new cases today. The total number of deaths in the US is 154,471, with 469 today.

If Erie County were to proportionally have as many positive cases as Pennsylvania, the county's total cases would be roughly 2,461.

Erie County's negative tests account for 1.55% of Pennsylvania's.

Erie County's new cases today account for 4.9% of Pennsylvania's. Erie County's cumulative positive cases account for 0.89% of the state's cumulative cases. Erie County's population accounts for 2.14% of the state population. 

There were 131 new positive cases reported in Allegheny County today, for a total of 8,442 cumulative cases, and 237 deaths.

As for updates in our nearby counties, Crawford County has 133 positive cases, with its first (and so far, only) death reported on June 30. McKean County has 33 cases and one death reported on May 5. Venango County has 62 total positive cases and no deaths. Warren County has 20 total cases, and reported its first death on June 28.

Ashtabula County's cumulative total is 539 positive cases, with 88 hospitalized, and 45 deaths. Chautauqua County has a cumulative total of 240 positive cases and nine deaths.