Harrisburg, PA - Today, the Pennsylvania Department of Health provided a weekly COVID-19 update as of Monday, Dec. 27.
“The Department of Health continues making COVID-19 testing accessible, available, and adaptable for Pennsylvanians at thousands of locations including testing centers, hospitals, health systems, private healthcare providers, pharmacies and schools,” Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter said.
In addition, the department has contracted AMI Expeditionary Healthcare (AMI) to provide free, community-based COVID-19 testing in counties across the state. These six mobile testing resources are designed to rotate to different locations as needed. They are currently providing testing in Berks, Blair, Centre, Clinton, Luzerne and Mifflin counties.
The department maintains an up-to-date testing map, available here: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Pages/Symptoms-Testing.aspx
“Regardless of your vaccination status, it is still important to get tested if you have symptoms or have possibly been exposed,” Klinepeter said. “I commend those Pennsylvanians who are taking precautions to get tested to protect their families and loved ones. This relatively simple step can help protect you and your loved ones if you take the appropriate steps when you test positive.”
Through a separate partnership with Concentric by Ginkgo Bioworks (Ginkgo) the department, is offering COVID-19 testing services at no cost to all K-12 Schools across the commonwealth, with the exception of schools within Philadelphia County, for the 2021-2022 school year.
The department also has provided funding to County-Municipal Health Departments to establish local testing opportunities.
Weekly Update
Pennsylvania continues to make critical strides in getting eligible residents vaccinated working closely with vaccine providers, grassroots organizations, and relevant stakeholders to ensure all Pennsylvanians have access to the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the CDC, as of Monday, Dec. 27, 73.9% of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older are fully vaccinated. This percentage reflects all 67 counties in Pennsylvania.
If you or your loved ones are not yet vaccinated, now is the time to get fully vaccinated, get boosted, and get children ages 5 – 18 vaccinated. Visit vaccines.gov to find a vaccine provider near you to schedule your vaccine appointment.
This week, the Department of Health analyzed the following vaccine data within its 66-county vaccine jurisdiction; Philadelphia is a separate vaccine jurisdiction:
· 279,989 vaccine doses were administered in the past week, including:
o 146,007 booster doses administered in the past week.
o 23,348 pediatric doses administered in the past week.
· 31.1% decrease in vaccines administered from previous week, largely attributed to the Christmas holiday.
Here is a statewide summary of COVID-19 trends over the past 7 days Monday, Dec. 20 –Sunday, Dec. 26:
· The daily average number of cases was 9,979.
· The number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, Dec. 27 was 0.4 percent lower than on Dec. 20. The percent of available adult and pediatric ICU beds in the state rose to 18% and 17%, respectively.
The Department of Health continues to provide the public with extensive and frequently updated data on both the COVID-19 dashboard and the vaccine dashboard. Both dashboards provide an interactive experience for the user to review statewide and local-level data updated daily.
The department also provides a dashboard showing COVID-19 data for skilled nursing homes including case counts, deaths and vaccination status for residents and staff.
For more information on the Department of Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit here.
To stay informed about the Wolf Administration’s vaccination efforts, the latest federal vaccine news, and answers to pressing vaccine questions, visit the Unite Against COVID Weekly Update.
MEDIA CONTACT: Mark O'Neill - ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov
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