Answered your question about climbing COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania

Spotlight PA held a free panel of health professionals on what to know for the fall. Here is the point.

• Sarah Ann Hughes / Spotlight PA
  

  

  Sarah Anne Hughes is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Spotlight PA, helping to oversee day-to-day news operations. Originally from Pennsylvania, she has helped lead the newsrooms in Harrisburg and Washington, DC. Formerly Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Pennsylvania Capital Star, he was a Report for America Fellow of Billy Penn and Incline covering the State Legislature. Prior to returning to his hometown, Sarah was Editor-in-Chief of the Washington City Papers, Editor of DCist, and Reporter of the Washington Post. She is a 2019 National Fellow of the Health Journalism Center, focusing on the decline in cash welfare of poor families.

August 30, 2021 | 1:56 PM

Spotlight PA Is an independent, nonpartisan news room run by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive / The Patriot-News, TribLIVE / Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletter..

(Harrisburg) — Coronavirus cases are steadily increasing in Pennsylvania, reaching levels not seen since the beginning of the year due to the highly contagious delta mutation.

At this time, the Wolf administration has refused to implement new mitigations such as Maskman Date, Encourage holdouts to get vaccinated.. However, the effort is slow and there are concerns that it could occur in schools and other environments where unvaccinated people are densely populated.

Spotlight PA held a free panel of health professionals on what to know for the fall. The main points are as follows.

Who is sick now?

At the beginning of the pandemic, experts were most concerned about serious illnesses in the elderly, Primary Care Health Services, Inc.Is the CEO of Black Equity Union In Pittsburgh.

Currently, Gloucester said that unvaccinated people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are ill. “There was a lot of complacency and a lot of resistance to the vaccine,” he said. “And, as you know, they are the most sick and sick individuals right now.”

“It’s very sick that we haven’t been vaccinated,” added Frederick Jackson, secretary general of the Wayne Memorial Community Health Center. “It’s hard to hesitate.”

How many breakthroughs have you had in Pennsylvania?

Some states have publicly reported how many fully vaccinated people have been infected with COVID-19, but Pennsylvania is not one of them.

Dr. Chris Johnson, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Temple University, said there are currently no good data on groundbreaking cases, especially at the state level. “And I think this just shows how difficult it is to collect good data, with so many cases going on,” she said.

Is the vaccine effective against delta mutants?

Experts agreed that current data and information show that the vaccine is excellent at preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and death.

However, they said it was reasonable to worry about the risk that COVID-19 would spread to children and others who could not be vaccinated. Delta variants are more contagious..

“It’s an excellent number and we should continue to work to increase it,” Johnson said, saying that 65% of adults in Pennsylvania are fully vaccinated. But she went on to say, “We feel completely protected, not close to the herd’s immunity, and return to a true normal sensation until the children can also be vaccinated. There is no such thing. “

Jessica Griffin / Philadelphia Inquirer

Governor Tom Wolf has called on Republican-led legislatures to enact such requirements, but there is no state-wide obligation to wear masks in public schools.

When can a child under the age of 12 get a shot?

Food and Drug Administration Expecting urgent approval Vaccine children under the age of 12 by midwinter. According to State Senator Art Haywood (D., Montgomery), that’s also what the Pennsylvania Vaccine Task Force said.

Is Maskman Date coming?

Governor Tom Wolf’s administration lifted the state-wide mask obligation in June and rejected the idea of ​​enacting a new one.

However, the Democratic Governor recently asked Congressional Republican leaders to return to Harrisburg to pass a school-only mission — Ideas rejected by lawmakers..

Haywood said Congress would need to revisit masking, especially in elementary schools where children are too young to be vaccinated.

Do I need to wear a mask even if I am vaccinated?

Johnson said he was pregnant and returned to acting as if he had not been completely vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently urged pregnant people to get vaccinated. Increased hospitalization among this almost unvaccinated population..

“I would have suggested and suggested to my extended family that you pretend to be unprotected from the vaccine,” she said. “That’s not true, you have a lot of protection around it …. But if what you’re concerned about is actually infected, with the highest level of prevention throughout the pandemic Go back to the mitigation level. “

Gloucester and Johnson said KN95 It provides excellent protection while leaving N95 (providing the highest level of protection) to healthcare professionals and others in high-risk environments.

“I gave the analogy of getting in a car, and you have your seat belt, you have your airbag. The more you have, the more you will be killed in an accident. Protection from things will be increased, “Glosser said. “It’s not that it can’t happen, but we know that more and more protection actually reduces risk.”

How does the state handle booster shots?

U.S. health officials recommend that people receive additional shots 8 months after receiving the Pfizer or Moderna vaccineHowever, the final decision is with the Food and Drug Administration. The agency has already issued a go-ahead for people with immunodeficiency.

Wayne Memorial Community Health Center will soon begin offering third shots People who meet those criteria.. Secretary-General Jackson said the challenge at the moment is those who are eager to get boosters who are not currently qualified.

Experts say that if booster shots are approved by the general public, the state could see the same types of confusion and confusion that it experienced when the vaccine first became available at the end of 2020. I agreed to be low.

“In the first deployment, all systems were completely overwhelmed by demand, significantly outpacing supply … and now we are in a much better place,” said Gloucester.

A staggered deployment for the rest of the vaccinated people “will allow us to do things in a much more orderly way,” Jackson added.

Haywood said the state’s Vaccine Task Force will meet to discuss booster shots and how to manage them. No decision has been made yet.

But as the flu season approaches, Gloucester said, “there will be a greater sense of urgency to get things going.”