Allegheny County Reports 450 New COVID-19 Cases In Past 48 Hours

Pittsburgh PA

09 February, 2021

12:59 PM

Description

By PublicSource reporters, Public Source 2021-02-08 The Allegheny County Health Department [ACHD] reported 450 new COVID-19 cases in the past 48 hours. The new cases, from positive tests dated Dec. 11 to Feb. 7, include individuals ranging in age from 1 to 98 years, with a median age of 38. To date, the ACHD has reported 71,533 cases, 1,527 deaths from the virus, and 4,605 past and present hospitalizations. The new cases, from positive tests dated Dec. 11 to Feb. 7, include individuals ranging in age from 1 to 98 years, with a median age of 38. To date, the ACHD has reported 71,533 cases, 1,527 deaths from the virus, and 4,605 past and present hospitalizations. ACHD announced on Thursday that residents would be able to call 211 to help register for COVID-19 vaccine appointments. By late afternoon, all 750 slots available at the Health Department's Point of Dispensing [POD] inside the DoubleTree Hotel in Monroeville were filled. The phone registration support was part of ACHD's expanded partnership with United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania and was intended to help residents 65 and older that did not have internet access or were having trouble navigating the vaccine registration website. The Pennsylvania Department of Health [DOH] confirmed 3,930 new COVID-19 cases and 157 new deaths Saturday. This brings the totals since the start of the pandemic to 865,604 cases and 22,396 deaths. Nursing and personal care home residents and employees represent about 8.9% of the state's cases and about 52% of the state's deaths. Healthcare workers represent about 2.7% of the state's cases. DOH in a Friday press briefing sought to ensure Pennsylvanians that there is an adequate and continuous supply of vaccines being delivered to counties across the state. Dr. John Kelly, a physician at Penn Medicine, vouched for the effectiveness of the vaccine, urging the eligible residents to obtain their doses as quickly as possible. "Vaccines work," Kelly said during the briefing. "I received my vaccine a couple of weeks ago without having any major difficulties, but it is imperative that once you receive your first dose, you immediately schedule for your second dose to make sure you receive the adequate protection and benefits." From mid-December through Feb. 6, at least 2,121,100 vaccine doses have been allocated to providers in Pennsylvania. There are 918,210 people who have received one dose of the vaccine and 246,390 people who have received both doses of the vaccine. Vaccination numbers for Pennsylvania do not include Philadelphia, which is its own jurisdiction, or federal facilities because they are working directly with the federal government. Some concerns were raised about how quickly vaccines were being administered and if the essential workers in the next phase of eligible recipients, 1B, would be able to secure a spot on a waiting list. "Our focus at this time is to really get through 1A," said Department of Health Senior Advisor Lindsey Mauldin, "and make sure that our most vulnerable Pennsylvanians are being served. That is our focus at this time." The department expects federal changes in vaccine distribution to increase the vaccination rate in the state, where less than a third of the doses needed to get past Phase 1A have been administered. On Wednesday, Mauldin touted the move by President Joe Biden's administration to begin directly distributing vaccine doses to retail pharmacies starting next week. Previously, states had to pull from their allotted vaccines to supply pharmacies, but soon, the federal government will directly distribute vaccines to pharmacies in addition to regular vaccine allotments to states. Pennsylvania has been sending about 36% of its Moderna vaccine to the retailers Rite Aid and Topco. "We have to wait and see how many doses will be directly sent to Topco and Rite Aid locations, but this will hopefully mean in the near future, we can start to [use] those vaccines [that the state would have sent to the pharmacies] for other parts of our mission to vaccinate eligible Pennsylvanians," Mauldin said Wednesday. The Biden administration also plans to give states an idea of how many vaccines they will receive in the next three weeks. Previously, states only received information one week ahead, which has been cited by both the state and Allegheny County as a significant problem. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald also lauded news of the federal government supplying vaccines directly to pharmacies during a press briefing, but he and ACHD Director Dr. Debra Bogen said they do not yet have exact details on what this could mean for the county. Fitzgerald and Bogen also referenced the Johnson & Johnson vaccine currently being tested. "I will be thrilled if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is approved," Bogen said. "It's a one-dose vaccine, which means it's much easier to administer." ACHD has been looking into possible sites for new vaccine distribution centers across the county for ease of access. However, Bogen said it is difficult to move forward with new distribution centers without better predictability of how many vaccines the county will receive. She also addressed frustration concerning ACHD's decision to administer vaccines only to people 65 and older at its distribution centers. Pennsylvania allows county health departments to make such decisions, Bogen said, and ACHD wanted to prioritize vaccinating elderly residents. "The single, most clear determinant for whether a person will develop a severe case of COVID-19, be hospitalized due to COVID-19 or die because of COVID-19 is age," Bogen said. "And the older someone is, the higher the risk." The vast majority of residents at the four Kane Community Living Centers have been vaccinated against COVID-19, the county announced Wednesday. More than 1,500 residents and employees of the senior homes have been vaccinated, of whom 1,300 received the second of the two required shots. About 92% of residents and 64% of employees agreed to be vaccinated. Though the rate of transmission has been decreasing since the holidays, Bogen cautioned residents to remain vigilant, especially with the Super Bowl approaching. "Even though the Steelers aren't playing, I know many of you plan to watch the Super Bowl, and I encourage you to stay safe while doing so," Bogen said. "The safest Super Bowl parties are ones with only members of your household." Pennsylvania's Early Warning Monitoring System dashboard update showed a seven-day case increase of 25,985 for the week of Jan. 22 to Jan. 28, indicating 5,823 fewer cases than the prior seven days. Statewide the positivity rate is now 9.3%. Every county in the state has a percent positivity above 5%. One county is over 20%. The dashboard also indicates that there are 63 counties in the substantial level of transmission category, three counties in the moderate level of transmission and one county in the low level of transmission. Allegheny County is considered to have a substantial level of transmission. Contact tracing data shows that out of the 34,545 cases reported from Jan. 17 to Jan. 23, only 3,463 residents provided answers as to whether they had spent time at a business. Of that number, 352 people answered yes when asked if they'd visited a business and 252 answered yes when asked if they'd attended a mass gathering 14 days prior to the onset of their symptoms. This article was reported by Annie Siebert, Lauren Davidson, Matt Petras, Punya Bhasin, Danielle Cruz and Dannys Marrero. This article was produced by PublicSource.org, a nonprofit news organization serving the Pittsburgh region. 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