DELCO TO BIDEN: SOS!
COUNTY ASKS PREZ FOR HELP GETTING MORE VACCINES
Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek directly asked President Joe Biden to help getting more COVID vaccines here.
“I had a very brief moment to speak with President Biden on his visit (Tuesday). I did request a FEMA site here for Delaware County,” Zidek said of establishing a Federal Emergency Management Agency location in the county.
Zidek was among a group of federal, state and local officials who met the president at the Philadelphia International Airport Tuesday upon his arrival to Delaware County as part of his “Help Is Here” tour, touting the benefits of the recently passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
Officials say Delaware County, along with the Philadelphia collar counties, has experienced an inequity with regards to the vaccine distribution throughout Pennsylvania.
“Gov. Wolf was put in the unfortunate position of being a relatively small room with me, with being unable to get out of that room, so I certainly bent his ear a bit (Tuesday) and asked for additional vaccine,” Zidek said.
He added that county officials had a call with the Pennsylvania Department of Health Wednesday.
“We have continued and will continue to work to try to get as much vaccine for Delaware County as is possible,” Zidek said, adding that all members of county council and of the state delegation, regardless of party, are advocating in this regard.
Delaware County received 7,000 doses of Moderna vaccine and 2,340 of the Pfizer vaccine this week, Rosemarie Halt, director of Delaware County’s COVID Task Force, reported, adding that the county has administered 5,941 doses of Pfizer, 9,276 doses of Moderna and 5,238 second doses of Moderna.
The county is operating five clinics by appointment only. They include the Yeadon Wellness Center, the Keystone First Wellness Center in Chester, the Aston Community Center, Penn Medicine in Radnor and Springfield Hospital.
“As more vaccine becomes available, we will be expanding our community outreach events,” Halt said.
She added that Delaware County had a 4.29 percent positivity following a four-week average of 5.99 percent.
“We are on a downward trend and we continue to be, which is really encouraging, especially at this one-year anniversary mark,” she said.
Halt explained that once someone is fully vaccinated, they should still continue to wear a mask in public, stay 6 feet apart from others and avoiding crowds, especially in poorly ventilated spaces.
She also thanked the Chester County Health Department for their help in the past year with contact tracing, case investigation, data collection, analysis, support and guidance on COVID issues. Lacking its own health department, Delaware County reached out to Chester County at the onset of the pandemic to provide all COVID-related services for the residents here.
“I can’t imagine where we would be without them right now,” Halt said, adding that they oversee COVID services for more than 1 million people in the combined counties.
County Councilwoman Elaine Paul Schaefer underscored that sentiment.
“Chester County literally saved thousands of lives in our county,” she said. “They helped us with our most vulnerable and targeted populations in both the prison and in our long-term care facilities. This was something brand new that nobody had ever dealt with and they helped all of those institutions handle this, do it professionally, do it right and minimized so much of the damage that could have happened.
“You cannot underestimate how much good they did in our county,” Schaefer concluded.
Zidek added that Delaware County’s Medical Reserve Corps should likewise be recognized.
“Just as we sing the praises of Chester County’s Health Department, which is much deserved ... I don’t think we could sing the praises enough of the MRC and all of the volunteers who work so often, every day of the week, all weekend, to make sure, with no pay, just out of the goodness of their heart because they’re good people and want to see Delaware County citizens kept safe,” he said of the scores of volunteers who have offered their services at the ready to help with the vaccine rollout.
Delaware County Medical Advisor Dr. Lisa O’Mahony said that another issue to address will be vaccine hesitancy.
“We want to be sure that we can respond to any reservations expressed by the community,” she said. “We can relay and I’ve heard many people express that the vaccine seemed to develop so quickly, it seemed to be too accelerated but what we can underscore is a decade of research preceded the production. We plan to rebut misconceptions such as some people mistakenly think that the COVID-19 vaccine can give you COVID-19 but since the vaccine does not contain the novel virus, that’s impossible.”
She said county officials hoped to spread enthusiasm about the vaccine.
“Vaccines have saved more lives than any other public health measure other than sanitation,” O’Mahony said. “We are excited and it’s moving slowly but it is moving along. We’ll keep plugging at it.”