Fayette, Washington counties now at medium-risk level for COVID-19

PITTSBURGH — According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fayette and Washington counties have now been elevated to medium-risk level for COVID-19.

State health officials say if you’re at high risk for severe illness, this is when you should talk to your doctor about possibly taking precautions like wearing a mask or getting tested if you have symptoms.

Allegheny County is still considered low risk.

Dr. Donald Yealy is the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s chief medical officer and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. He told us across the health system’s 40 hospitals, the number of admissions has been steady, admitting somewhere between 130 and 180 people over the past several weeks.

“What we really focus on is how many people come to the hospitals and have positive tests and how many need more extensive care,” Yealy said.

Meanwhile, the White House is urging caution this summer, as new COVID-19 subvariants are becoming more common.

BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron are currently spiking across Europe.

Washington Health System’s chief medical officer says they don’t track variants in-house, but he expects they are seeing it.

Yealy told us that as well last week.

“I expect we’ll see many if not all of them,” he said regarding “the other variants in Europe,” including both the BA.4 variant and BA.5 variant.

The Allegheny County health department offered this statement in response to the rising levels in neighboring counties:

“The Allegheny County Health Department continues to monitor and recommend virus mitigation measures as the COVID-19 pandemic ebbs and flows. If, like Washington and Fayette Counties, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), designates Allegheny County as an area of ‘medium’ level community spread, it changes the recommendations residents should follow to reduce their risk of infection. For counties with ‘medium’ community spread, the CDC recommends those at high risk for severe illness talk to their health care provider about whether they should wear a mask and take additional precautions. For those who choose to wear masks, N95 respirators and KN95s are more protective than cloth or surgical masks. Masks should fit properly over the nose and under the chin without gaps. Everyone should make sure they are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, and get tested if they start to exhibit symptoms or had exposure to the virus. If a resident tests positive and is at risk for a severe reaction to the virus, they should also talk with their health care provider to see if they are eligible for antiviral therapy, which has been shown to reduce the risk of COVID-related hospitalization by as much as 80-90 percent. This is especially important for seniors.”

Regarding BA.4 and BA.5 – “The omicron BA.5 subvariant is now the dominant COVID-19 strain in Allegheny County, as well as the majority of the United States. It is increasing rapidly in prevalence and is more contagious that any previous variant we have seen since the beginning of the pandemic. This subvariant has shown to have a very high rate of re-infection, meaning that even if a person was diagnosed with a previous strain of COVID-19, they could still catch BA.5. With its high level of contagiousness, we could see both positive case numbers and hospitalizations rise. Wearing a mask is an effective prevention measure and one of the best strategies people can implement against being infected with BA.5.”

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