COVID-19 cases, deaths fall to new lows in Erie County goerie.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from goerie.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Erie County has witnessed far too many COVID-19 deaths over the past year, but county health officials said measures taken locally have helped keep the death rate relatively low comparted to elsewhere in the state.
The county s COVID-19 death rate throughout the pandemic is 139.4 deaths per 100,000, which is the 12th lowest among Pennsylvania s 67 counties.
Diligent disease investigation and contact tracing have helped keep the death rate from going higher, said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., director of community health for the Erie County Department of Health. We know that the earlier the cases are identified, the earlier the cases can be contacted and instructed on what signs to look for, Berringer said. If things deteriorate, seeking medical care earlier rather than later . will lower the death rate.
The county also reported 141 new cases Nov. 4-6.
Local health officials aren t sure whether this means the county is near the end of a nearly yearlong pandemic, or just experiencing a reprieve.
The county is still averaging nearly 54 new cases a day over the past week, higher than the totals at any time before mid-November, said Howard Nadworny, M.D., a Saint Vincent Hospital infectious diseases specialist and adviser to the Erie County Department of Health. Given that there were no major holidays in January and February, and February was colder and snowier, I suspect more people were masking and distancing (i.e. fewer
Erie s eventual triumph over COVID-19 might have started Thursday afternoon with a quick poke in Tylesha Williams right arm.
Williams, a 26-year-old patient care technician at UPMC Hamot, is believed to be the first Erie County resident to have received the COVID-19 vaccine. She and nine coworkers were vaccinated during a short ceremony in the Erie hospital s ground-floor conference room.
Nine Saint Vincent Hospital employees were vaccinated late Thursday afternoon and additional staff at both hospitals were expected to receive the vaccines later in the day. I didn t feel the shot at all, said Williams, an Erie resident who works with COVID-19 patients at Hamot. I m so happy there s a vaccine, so that I don t have a risk of transmitting it to my family or coworkers.