Rich Engler was sitting with a friend in his Sewickley Heights home when the neighborhood shook. “All of a sudden, this immense blast took place — we thought something had hit our place,” said Engler, 77, a local music producer who’s lived among the borough’s massive estates and rolling hills
On paper, Sewickley Heights has had one of the highest case rates of covid-19 in Allegheny County.
In early January, the borough of roughly 800 residents had about 307 positive cases a case rate of 3,700 per 10,000 residents, or 37%. Nationally, the rate was 7.5% on Jan. 25. In Pennsylvania, it was around 6.3%.
“I knew that number had to be wrong,” said John Bunce, a resident of Leet.
He said the Sewickley area is “very well-behaved” when it comes to following county, state and federal guidelines to curb the spread of the disease. Bunce’s daily routine includes going to Mass, a coffee shop and a bakery where he observes people following all of the rules.