Photo Credit: Pa. Health Dept. official Lindsey Mauldin speaks during an online news briefing on 2/9/21 (screen capture)

Madison Kwiecinski

News Editor 

mvk5945@psu.edu

With vaccines becoming available to limited groups across the country and hospitalizations on the decline, many Pennsylvanians are hopeful that the ongoing pandemic may finally be beginning to slow down. 

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in PA has dropped 12 percent in the past week and 46 percent in the past month. As of February 9th, 1,401,840 doses of the vaccine have been administered to 1,084,502 people. 

According to State Department of Health data, the number of patients in intensive care units has also decreased. Currently, there are 565 patients in ICUs in Pennsylvania, which is down 13 percent in the past week from 650, and 48 percent in the past month, from 1092. 

Governor Tom Wolf released a statement saying, “This is the first week in many, many weeks that we are seeing counties with lower than 5 percent positivity rates… This is good news for mitigating the spread of this virus in our communities across the commonwealth.” 

One PA County specifically, Erie County, has now had its lowest weekly COVID-19 rate since early October of 2020, following a month-long decline. Erie County officials are cautious but optimistic about the lowering totals and will be leaving reopening protocols up to Governor Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education. 

Wolf has received some harsh criticism recently on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is unlike the typical criticism he faces regarding the pandemic from Republican party members. More than 30 Democratic state legislators want Gov. Tom Wolf to release more inmates who are elderly or medically vulnerable. 

Governor Wolf has signed 165 reprieves and claims that the administration believes “that appropriately reducing the prison population is a necessary mitigation strategy to help fight COVID-19 in our prison system.” 

The 32 state legislators have stated that they appreciate the reprieve program, but that Wolf has only granted a fraction of the 1,200 intended releases. 

“While your initial action to offer reprieve was prudent and lifesaving, the death count reported by the Department of Corrections now exceeds one per day,” the legislators’ mentioned above told Wolf. “A person’s fundamental right to be safe and free from disease does not stop at the prison wall.” 

In response, Wolf has asked the Republican led legislature to improve the reprieve program and has also asked it be made to address medical parole, fill parole board vacancies, and include programs “that will keep people out of prison in the first place.”

The Wolf Administration has been trying to improve COVID-19 protocols all throughout the pandemic and has recently created a COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force with the legislature which will be used to share vaccine information and concerns between the Administration and the General Assembly. 

As vaccines have begun to be distributed, the PA health department has been working to make a simple and effective tool to simplify the process. The PA State Health Department has launched its new online tool, called “Your Turn” to help Pennsylvanians keep track of when they are eligible to schedule their COVID-19 vaccination. People without internet access can call the Health Department at 877-PA-HEALTH to obtain that same information. 

The state is currently in the first phase of its vaccine rollout and is vaccinating frontline workers, people age 65 and older, and people age 16 and older who have underlying conditions. 

The new online tool allows those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine to enter their contact information and will alert them whenever it is available to them. 

PA officials are fighting across the state for better COVID-19 protocols and to lower cases state-wide. The improvements and lowering cases across the state are a testament to that and hopefully will continue until the end of the pandemic.