If You Celebrate St Patrick s Day – Don t Do It in a Crowd pittsburghmagazine.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pittsburghmagazine.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Kristina Serafini | Tribune-Review
Director of the Allegheny County Health Department Dr. Debra Bogen takes questions during a press conference about the rising number of local covid-19 cases at Point State Park on Nov. 12.
Kristina Serafini | Tribune-Review
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
Echoing the concerns of health professionals across the region, the Allegheny County Health Department director said it is not prepared to accommodate Pennsylvania’s expansion of covid-19 vaccine distribution.
“I would love to tell you that we can vaccinate all of you who now meet these expanded criteria today,” Dr. Debra Bogen said during a Wednesday news conference. “But the reality is that the current vaccine supply makes this unachievable at this time.”
Megan Tomasic | Tribune-Review
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
Pennsylvania health and education officials Thursday encouraged school districts to return elementary school students to classrooms, at least partially.
“Beginning in the second semester, which typically begins around Jan. 25, and as local conditions permit, schools are going to be encouraged to allow for elementary school students to return back to campus, along with other targeted populations,” said Acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega.
Until now, school districts in counties with “substantial” community transmission of covid-19 have been recommended to operate with fully remote models. The new recommendations allow districts in these conditions to also offer hybrid or blended approaches for younger learners and other student populations selected by their individual districts.
Health Department director predicts “exponential growth” for county s COVID-19 vaccination rate.
January 7, 2021
PHOTO: ALLEGHENY COUNTY
By most accounts, the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is off to a slow start. However, Allegheny County Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen predicts the pace will pick up significantly. How? Bogen says that once more people receive state authorization to administer the vaccine, more people will receive the shots.
“We do recognize this is urgent. I know people are frustrated that we haven’t moved faster. I do expect that this will get faster and faster over the next couple of weeks and I do expect exponential growth,” of vaccinations, Bogen told the regular meeting of the county health board on Wednesday.
That means that one-third of the county’s total COVID fatalities since the start of the pandemic have occurred in December.
According to the state, there are 767 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Allegheny County, including 197 in intensive care units.
Allegheny County’s fatalities are also outpacing those in Philadelphia this month, despite the fact that Philadelphia is home to 368,000 more people.
Just under 10 percent of all Pennsylvania deaths from COVID-19 have occurred this month in Allegheny County, which comprises around 10 percent of the state s population.
Both Allegheny County and Pennsylvania have set multiple single-day records for COVID-19 cases and deaths in December. The surge started in early fall and picked up pace following Thanksgiving.