Fitzgerald says there is light at the end of the COVID tunnel
“We see light at the end of the tunnel. Things are getting brighter and brighter.”
That’s how Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald described the COVID-19 landscape at the county health department’s Wednesday afternoon briefing. Both Fitzgerald and Dr. Debra Bogen, the health department’s director, expressed optimism about falling case numbers and the arrival of additional vaccine doses.
“We’ve had another week of reassuring case numbers,” Bogen noted.
However, she said that three cases of the more-contagious variant of COVID-19 from Britain had been found in the county, and that it was necessary for county residents to continue to avoid large gatherings.
“We have all been changed by the events of the last year,” Bogen said. “But we are not quite there yet. Please be vigilant and patient for the next few months.”
According to data released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health Wednesday, Allegheny County had 250 additional cases and seven new deaths.
Thirty-three additional cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Washington County. Its cumulative total since the start of the pandemic is 13,607 cases. There were no new deaths added to the total of 257.
There were also no new deaths in either Greene or Fayette counties. Fayette has logged 261 deaths, and there have been 32 in Greene. Fayette added 30 new cases, bringing its total to 10,369, and Greene recorded 10 additional cases. Since March, 2, 648 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Greene County.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Pam Snyder, R-Jefferson, and state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, D-Erie, have sent a letter to acting Pennsylvania Health Secretary Allison Beam, urging that teachers, school personnel and corrections officers be added to the Phase 1a category of vaccination in the state.
Snyder also believes further changes are needed, including limiting smokers to only those aged 65 or older.
“Prioritizing others over our educators and corrections officers is baffling, especially when you consider the close congregate work they perform, and to have them currently placed in the Phase 1b category is insulting,” Snyder said.