{"id":47521,"date":"2021-01-06T09:53:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T14:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=47521"},"modified":"2021-01-06T09:54:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06T14:54:27","slug":"county-officials-lay-out-covid-019-vaccination-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=47521","title":{"rendered":"County officials lay out COVID-19 vaccination plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em> @mikemcgannpa<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Chester County Health Department laid out the vaccine plan to battle COVID-19 during a detailed presentation to the public, Tuesday, even as the first phase of inoculations were under way for health care workers in the county.<\/p>\n

All three County Commissioners, County Administrator Bobby Kagel and County Health Director Jeanne Casner detailed the plans to get the vaccine to county residents over the coming weeks and months, including a four-phase priority plan determining who will be eligible and when.<\/p>\n

Because of limited supply of the vaccine, it is being phased out in priority to those most in need. Additionally, depending on which vaccine being used, people will need to return in either 21 or 28 days for a second dose.<\/p>\n

Those in Phase 1-A \u2014 health care workers and those in long-term care facilities \u2014 are currently eligible for vaccinations, which are taking place at various locations throughout the county, including hospitals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One health care worker who was vaccinated Tuesday told The Times<\/em> that the process at the County Administration building in Westtown was \u201csmooth, efficient and extremely well-run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phase 1-B are critical workers, essential front line workers and those over age 75.<\/p>\n

Phase 1-C expands upon essential workers, including various key industries and those between 18 and 64 with high-risk medical conditions.<\/p>\n

Phase 2 would be all over other county residents over age 16.<\/p>\n

Commissioners\u2019 Chair Marian Moskowitz acknowledged how difficult the last year has been for county residents and thanked them for following the various rules and regulations \u2014 but said things will get better as the year goes along.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all very tired of COVID and we\u2019ve been dealing with a lot \u2013 and our community has done such a great job of adhering to the rules – and our numbers show it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a little bit more ways to go and there is light at the end of the tunnel, so I want to thank our Health Department for coordinating a great effort on the ground and we\u2019re here to help you and to help everybody get through this – so thank you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Casner detailed the planned vaccination process and provided an update on where the virus and infections stand right now.<\/p>\n

She said that vaccine is a good tool to fight COVID-19, but not a reason to relax just yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vaccine is a crucial public health strategy in our fight against COVID-19 \u2013 however, we must remember that the vaccine is not a cure…it is another tool in our fight and we must continue to practice the proven mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing our hands, ensuring we are physically separate from others, and importantly, avoiding gatherings,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, after you get your vaccine \u2013 if you choose to \u2013 you must still wear your mask and do all of the other actions we\u2019ve been asking of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Chester County is faring better than many counties in Pennsylvania \u2014 and even saw slight drops in new cases and test positivity rates \u2014 both numbers remain high, placing a burden on local health care resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incidence rate and percent positivity are impacted by the activities we as individuals engage in that have increased exposure risks,\u201d Casner said. \u201cI cannot stress enough the importance of reducing your exposure by avoiding group activities, remaining home when you\u2019re not feeling well for ANY reason, and wearing a mask at all times when you\u2019re not in your home.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is crucial because, at this time, it is difficult to predict how much vaccine will be distributed to the county in the coming weeks. That means county officials can\u2019t predict when each phase will go into effect at this time. Signing up and filling out the survey on the county Website: http:\/\/www.chesco.org\/health<\/span><\/a> will allow the Health Department to contact county residents when they become eligible for the vaccination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to ask you for your patience once again, because we cannot predict how much vaccine the state will be sending to the Health Department on any given week,\u201d Casner said. \u201cAnd therefore, we can only open up enough appointments for which we have vaccine. With each shipment we will absolutely open up more vaccine appointments, and will communicate to individuals who have expressed interest.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She said that moving into Phase 1-B will depend on having Phase 1-A well underway and having enough supplies of the vaccine. Additionally, when more vaccine becomes available, the current single Westtown County Health location (currently supplemented by hospitals and long-term care facilities, which are also doing vaccinations), Casner said the plan is to expand to have locations throughout the county, including pop up sites, and when the weather improves, drive-thru clinics.<\/p>\n

The complete presentation and a complete transcript of the presentation can be found on the County Health Website: https:\/\/chesco.org\/4822\/COVID19Vaccine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa The Chester County Health Department laid out the vaccine plan to battle COVID-19 during a detailed presentation to the public, Tuesday, even as the first phase of inoculations were under way for health care workers in the county. All three County Commissioners, County Administrator Bobby Kagel and County […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13561,12855,7426,10676,3962],"class_list":["post-47521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-chester-county-county-health","tag-covid-19","tag-featured","tag-plan","tag-vaccine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47523,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47521\/revisions\/47523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}