DOH: Pa. mask mandate likely to end June 28

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Vector color chalk drawn illustration of medical mask on black chalkboard background. One more month. Pennsylvania’s mask mandates will end no later than June 28, the state Department of Health (DOH) announced Thursday. Already, folks who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks in many situations — stores, businesses and such are still allowed...

Vaccinated? CDC, Pa. Health says it’s OK to take off mask in most situations

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Vector color chalk drawn illustration of medical mask on black chalkboard background. With COVID-19 cases dropping nationally, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced Thursday afternoon that those who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks, indoors or outdoors, or observe social distancing, although masks will be required on public...

Pa., Chesco pause use of J&J COVID vaccine

Following a recommendation from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), both the state of Pennsylvania and Chester County announced Tuesday that their respective health departments would pause vaccinations using the Johnson & Johnson Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, pending a study of a rare but dangerous blood clotting issue that may be related to the...

Wolf, DOH rightly under fire for botched, unfair vaccine rollout

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Depending on who you talk to, Pennsylvania’s vaccine program is either going swimmingly, or it is a bungled mess, with lower than the national average per capita of vaccine in arms, while the state Department of Health (DOH) is intentionally shortchanging the collar counties — the same counties that did the best job in containing the COVID-19 virus...

Wolf loosens some COVID restrictions; Congress members call for better Pa. vaccine roll out

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Gov. Tom Wolf announced some loosening of COVID-19 restrictions Monday — as members of Congress from the Philadelphia suburbs, including U.S. Chrissy Houlahan, called for Wolf to fix the state’s vaccine program. This all happened as the new weekly state COVID numbers showed another modest decline — and a similar drop in Chester County from the week...

Federal evaluators: County well-prepared for disaster

For third consecutive year, it earned perfect score on readiness assessment By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times For the third year in a row, Chester County received a perfect score in emergency readiness from federal evaluators. For the third consecutive year, Chester County has received a perfect score of 100 on the 2013 Federal Technical Assistance Review (TAR), an annual assessment...