COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Montco
NORRISTOWN » While the rising number of daily coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continues to be a concern in Montgomery County, officials reported some good news — the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are arriving at county hospitals this week.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel. Vaccine will be arriving at eight of our nine Montgomery County hospitals this week and at our ninth hospital next week,” county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh revealed on Wednesday during a weekly news briefing. “This vaccine will be used to vaccinate
frontline hospital workers but none of our hospitals are getting enough vaccine with this first delivery to vaccinate all of their workers. They are having to make priority lists within each hospital.
“They have all shared their general plan, which is they are prioritizing within their hospital, individuals who work directly with COVID-19 patients and who also wish to be vaccinated,” Arkoosh added.
It’s unclear how many doses of the vaccine the county will receive during the first round of distribution. Earlier this week, state health officials said a total of 97,500 doses of the vaccine are being shipped to hospitals statewide.
“We do not have a date certain as to when our hospitals will receive additional vaccine or how many doses,” Arkoosh said.
Officials also expect that CVS and Walgreens locations will receive doses of the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer in the near future to be used to vaccinate residents and staff at long-term care facilities in the county.
“Once the hospital workers and long-term care facility residents are vaccinated, the next batch of vaccine will go to essential workers like EMTs and paramedics, grocery store workers, pharmacy workers, hopefully, teachers and other essential members of our community,” Arkoosh explained.
“In a few short months, there will be safe and effective
vaccine available for our community at-large,” said Arkoosh, who as a physician has been at the forefront of the county’s efforts to combat COVID-19 and provide citizens with the latest information regarding the outbreak.
The state Department of Health’s vaccination plan includes three phases for distributing and administering vaccines and early supply of the vaccine is expected to be limited.
Meanwhile, as the county entered the 41st week of the pandemic, there are more people currently hospitalized with the virus than were hospitalized during the initial spring surge.
On Wednesday, 537 individuals with COVID-19 were in the county’s nine hospitals and 55 of the patients required ventilators.
“While the hospitals are better equipped with PPE, ventilators and medications that can ease the course of the disease, they all continue to face critical limits in the number of staff they have available to care for patients. All of our hospitals have been impacted by staff who have been exposed or infected in the community due to the substantial amount of virus circulating right now,” Arkoosh said.
“Our hospitals are going to extraordinary lengths to properly and safely staff the beds that our currently open. We need to work together as a community to reduce the spread of virus in our community to protect our hospital staff,” Arkoosh added.
Like hospitalizations, the county’s COVID-19 positivity rate also continues to increase.
The overall 14-day COVID-19 positivity rate for the county, as of Dec. 11, was 11.1% which was an increase from the 9.73% positivity rate for the 14-day period ending Dec. 4, according to county statistics.
Health officials believe having a positivity rate less than 5% indicates the county is controlling the spread of the virus and keeping it suppressed.
Officials also reported that the daily positivity rate in the county was above 5% every day between Nov. 28 and Dec. 11.
On Wednesday, officials reported 378 new positive cases of the virus, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 27,864 since March 7, when the first two cases of the virus were identified in the county. Twenty-seven of the new cases were individuals who resided in longterm care facilities and 15 were reported at the county jail in Lower Providence, officials said.
The new positive individuals included 199 males and 179 females who ranged in age from 4-days-old to 99 and resided in 51 municipalities.
Officials also reported one more death from the virus on Wednesday, bringing the county’s death toll to 942 since the pandemic began in March. The 72-yearold individual died in a hospital.
Since March, a total of 492 females and 450 males, who ranged in age from 34 to 104, have died from the virus in the county.
Data also indicates that county residents appear to have a greater chance now than they did several months ago of encountering a positive individual.
According to county data, on June 26, the county recorded 443 positive COVID-19 cases over two weeks, meaning at that time, a county resident was likely to encounter one positive individual for every 1,875 people with whom they interacted.
Comparatively, on Dec. 15, the county recorded 6,479 positive cases over 14-days, meaning a county resident was likely to encounter a positive individual for every 128 people with whom they interacted.
“You are more likely this week to encounter someone with COVID-19 than last week when the odds were 1 in 155,” Arkoosh explained.
To flatten the current surge of COVID-19 cases in the county and to keep the positivity rate below 5%, Arkoosh urged residents to wear a mask, to avoid social gatherings, to abide by
handwashing recommendations, to fully cooperate if they receive a call from a contact tracer, and to download the free COVID Alert PA app onto their phone.
COVID Alert PA is a free mobile app, offered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, that uses Bluetooth low energy technology and the Exposure Notification System, created jointly by Google and Apple, to notify and give public health guidance to anyone who may have been in close contact with a person who also has the app and has tested positive for COVID-19.
“The choices that each of us makes regarding our personal conduct…impact our entire community,” said Arkoosh, who was joined at the weekly news briefing by fellow Commissioner Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr.
More people in the county do appear to be taking advantage of testing opportunities for the virus. Officials reported that for the 14-day period ending Dec, 11, there were 62,205 county residents who obtained tests for COVID-19, which was an increase of 4,500 people tested compared with the 14-day period ending Dec. 4. Officials said more testing provides the county the opportunity to do more surveillance and learn how the virus is circulating in the county and suppress any outbreak that may surface.
Testing is available for all county residents and those who work in the county and want or need to be tested. The county has established outdoor walk-up testing sites in Pottstown, Norristown, Lansdale, Willow Grove, Ardmore and Green
Lane to accommodate those who want to be tested.
The six county-run sites provide self-administered tests at no cost, although insurance will be billed if you have it. The sites do require an appointment for testing.
Normally, each of the six testing sites is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Appointments can be made weekdays starting at 7 a.m. by visiting www. montcopa.org/COVID-19 and clicking on the county testing information button. Residents can also register for a test at any of the six sites by calling 610-970-2937 beginning at 8:30 a.m. daily.
However, due to the winter storm, all of the testing sites will be closed on Thursday, officials said.
In Pottstown, the testing site is located at the county’s Office of Public Health Pottstown Health Center at 364 King St.
In Norristown, a testing site is located on the parking lot of the Delaware Valley Community Health Norristown Regional Health Center at 1401 DeKalb St. The county also will open its Norristown testing location from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19. Residents can book appointments starting at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 18.
In Lansdale, a testing site is located at 421 Main St. Another testing site is located at Deep Creek and Snyder roads in the Green Lane Park area.
In Ardmore, a testing site is located at 114 W. Lancaster Avenue and in Willow Grove, a testing site is at First Baptist Church - Crestmont, 1678 Fairview Ave.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel. Vaccine will be arriving at eight of our nine Montgomery County hospitals this week and at our ninth hospital next week.”
- Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Valerie Arkoosh