Vaccine Approved for Young Children; State COVID-19 Surge Flattening | Coronavirus

Johnstown, PA – Children aged 5 to 11 may begin vaccination with Pfizer’s child-sized COVID-19 vaccine as early as next week, the Associated Press reports.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a vaccine for emergency use. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to make more detailed recommendations on Tuesday as to which children should be vaccinated.

The shot contains about one-third of the adult vaccine.

“With this vaccine, children can go back to better than being trapped in a remote school and not seeing their friends,” Dr. Kawasar Talaat of Johns Hopkins University told AP. “Vaccines protect them and protect our community.”

Locally, the Cambria-Somerset COVID-19 Task Force and the Somerset County Emergency Services Department will work together next week at the Friedens Lutheran Church in Friedens, 131 S. Main St. Provided a free outdoor COVID-19 test site. Business hours are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 am to 7 pm and November 6th from 7 am to 2 pm. The free test will continue from 10am to 7pm on November 8th and 9th.

The test site is part of the Department of Health’s state-wide program, offered through a partnership with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare.

“Especially if you are infected with or suspect you have symptoms of COVID-19, we recommend that you use the nearest free COVID-19 test if you need or feel you need a test. “Alison Beam, Deputy Secretary of Health and Welfare, said in a press release. “This includes fully vaccinated individuals who are experiencing symptoms.”

Moving average dip

Meanwhile, according to the latest data, the COVID-19 surge has leveled off this week, but remains rising across the state and region.

A Friday update by the Ministry of Health resulted in 4,506 positive cases and 85 new deaths, 1,557,459 cases and 31,377 COVID-19 deaths across the state.

The state’s seven-day average is 3,879 cases a day. Last Friday, October 22, the average was below 4,000 per day, below the threshold throughout the week.

Weekly updates to the state’s early warning monitoring system show that some of all COVID-19 tests that returned positive continue to decline across the state, but increase in some counties in the region. I am.

Across Pennsylvania, 8.8% of COVID-19 tests were positive in the last 7 days, down from 9.2% in the last 7 days.

In this area, only Bedford and Westmoreland counties reduced positive rates. The counties of Cambria, Somerset, Blair, Indiana, Clearfield, and Center were more aggressive, with the largest surge in Indiana county. The positive rate there went from 10.1% last week to 14.2% this week.

The Ministry of Health states that areas with positive rates above 5% are at risk of local transmission of the coronavirus.

The dashboard shows that COVID-19 hospitalizations in Pennsylvania were flat, with an average of 3,070 hospitalizations per day.

On Friday, 2,738 inpatients were being treated for COVID-19. Of these, 665 were in the intensive care unit and 373 were on ventilator.

There were 159 hospitalizations in the Cambria, Blair, Somerset, and Bedford counties, including 35 ICU patients and 35 ventilator patients. A week ago, 145 people were hospitalized in four counties.

Two people died in Cambria

In the Friday update, deaths continue to rise, with 85 new deaths across the state and seven new in the region.

Cambria County added two deaths on Friday, resulting in a total of 16 COVID-19 deaths during the week. The county saw 510 deaths during the pandemic.

Indiana County also added two deaths on Monday, with one dead each in Bedford, Blair, and Westmoreland counties.

74 in Cambria, 42 in Somerset, 35 in Bedford, 122 in Blair, 29 in Indiana, 56 in Clearfield, 46 in Center, 46 in Westmoreland. There were 171 new cases. This was the largest daily increase since January 2nd in Blair County.

Combining Friday’s updates from the state and Philadelphia health departments, we find that vaccine providers have given 15,609,475 doses, including 467,283 boosters.

Currently, there are 7,364,574 fully vaccinated Pennsylvania, an increase of 64,657 from last Friday.