Posted on 04/12/2021 2:18:32 PM PDT by lightman
Once again, more Pennsylvania counties are showing substantial spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said Monday.
Across Pennsylvania, 50 of the state’s 67 counties have substantial transmission of COVID-19, Wolf’s office said. That’s an additional five counties compared to last week, when the Wolf administration said 45 counties showed substantial transmission of COVID-19.
The positive test rate rose to 9.5% for the week of April 2-8, which represents a slight increase from 9.4% the previous week. It is the fourth straight week the positive rate has risen, but the uptick is much smaller than in previous weeks. At one point, the rate had dropped for 12 straight weeks.
The rate of positive coronavirus tests remains well below the peak of 16.2% in December, but health officials have said a positive test rate higher than 5% is a source of concern. The rate had been 5.7% four weeks ago.
“As the weather warms up, we need all Pennsylvanians to unite against COVID-19,” Wolf said in a statement. “Please continue to wear a mask, wash your hands, practice social distancing, and as it becomes your turn, make the decision to get vaccinated to best protect yourself from contracting the virus.”
Beginning Tuesday, April 14, everyone in Pennsylvania will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and can start scheduling appointments, Wolf said.
State officials said it may take time before residents can actually get their shot but everyone can at least begin scheduling appointments starting Tuesday. Many providers are encouraging all residents to start registering for appointments right now.
The acceleration of the vaccine rollout comes amidst an uptick in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations over the past few weeks.
A closer look
The Wolf administration uses three categories to gauge the transmission of COVID-19: low, moderate and substantial. Each week, the Wolf administration offers a report on the number of counties with substantial spread of COVID-19.
State officials have urged school districts to evaluate the spread of COVID-19 in determining whether students should be in school, educated remotely or with a mix of distance learning and face-to-face instruction. Most school districts are offering at least some in-person instruction but some of Pennsylvania’s schools continue to operate remotely.
Only three counties are showing low transmission of the virus, while 14 counties are showing moderate spread.
Virtually all of the counties in the Harrisburg are showing substantial transmission of COVID-19, according to the Wolf administration. There’s high spread throughout the Philadelphia region and in the Pittsburgh area as well.
Here’s the full breakdown of COVID-19 transmission levels in each county.
Low: Cameron, Forest and Fulton
Moderate: Bedford, Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Snyder, Somerset, Venango and Warren
Substantial: Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Elk, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Huntingdon, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland, Wyoming and York
The vaccine rollout
Starting today, Pennsylvania expanded the state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout to Phase 1C, which includes Pennsylvania state employees, federal government workers and employees of all county and local government levels.
Phase 1C also covers a host of other critical employees, including public safety workers, those in the energy sector, legal services, housing construction, financial services, bank tellers, information technology workers and media companies.
Everyone is eligible to begin scheduling appointments for vaccines starting Tuesday, April 14. Wolf moved up the timetable to expand the rollout to the general public; the date had been April 19.
Providers say thousands of appointments are available for COVID-19 vaccines. Central Pennsylvania’s larger providers said they’re ready for the influx of newly eligible people seeking shots.
So far, more than 2.4 million state residents are fully vaccinated and 1.8 million have received their first shot of a two-dose vaccine, according to the Pennsylvania Health Department. The state data doesn’t include the city of Philadelphia, which is doing its own rollout.
In Philadelphia, more than 612,000 people have received at least one shot and nearly 400,000 are fully vaccinated, according to the city’s health department.
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two doses for full vaccination. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one shot.
Statewide, 2,460 people are being treated in hospitals for COVID-19, an increase of more than 1,000 over the past four weeks. But the increase in hospitalizations has slowed a bit in recent days.
More than 1 million coronavirus cases have been reported in Pennsylvania and more than 25,000 deaths have been tied to COVID-19, according to the state health department.
Most of those who are infected suffer relatively mild symptoms and many don’t even get sick, health officials say. But doctors say the virus poses serious risks to everyone, particularly for seniors and those with chronic medical conditions.
‘How are mask mandates and lockdowns increasing the spread of Covid?’
I don’t know; did someone on this thread said they did...?
The only people I know who got it recovered within the course of a week from symptoms to feeling normal again, they described it as a bad cold or mild flu.
I’m assuming as vaccinations go up the amount of testing goes down to those who truly are showing signs of COVID or have come in contact with a known case. I have been tested over 60 times in various states and countries but after I receive my second vaccination my need to be tested goes down...
kinda strange how there’s never an uptick in cases in antifa and blm block party areas...
It is simple more tests more cases...less test less cases..it is all BS
Why?
I’d assume the same. But you know what they say about assume.
It seems almost 23% of PA residents are fully vaccinated, and 2.5x that many have been partially vaccinated. So how they coming up with nearly 10% positive rate, especially since we assume those vaccinated are probably not getting tested?
Correction to above. 2.9 million are fully vaccinated, and about 8 million total jabs.
The bodies are piling up in the streets! Pennsylvania is running out of cemetary plots! Oh, wait...
Let the bodies hit the floor!
Blue states are having covid issues. Meanwhile, red states are just enjoying themselves. Florida was supposed to have a spring break covid disaster. Oops. Media wrong again.
Useless info anyway.
What matters is who it is spreading among and who (sick and elderly)_ are protected.
A 10% positivity rate in the young is not a concern- a 10% positivity rate among the old would be a BIG concern.
There will never be herd immunity.
COVID is no longer a virus, it’s an industry.
The “crisis” will never end. There’s too much money involved now.
You are right about that.
Mask no mask petri dish experiments
Laser imaging of droplet emission through no mask vs various styles of masks
I'm in Washington Co and it's not an issue here.
“ Ironic that the virtually all the strictest mask mandate and lockdown states are the ones being the hardest hit.....just ironic. /s”
Kind of like rain on your wedding day, not withstanding the fact that nothing in that song is actually ironic
Yes it is. Read the list of “substantial” increase counties.
I wouldn't belive it if the state told me the sky is blue.
Our plant has 300 working and we've had 6 emplyees get.
They all got it somewhere else and all were mild.
The PCR tests are notoriously unreliable with false positives.
The overwhelming number who do get it have mild or no symptoms.
60% of cases happened in nursing homes after Tommie the Commie Wolf and Sec of Health tranny freak forced them to take infected patients.
I know people in Greene, Fayette, and Washington counties.
Some of them are scared witless about this. Just taled w/one of them this evening.
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