COVID-19 hospitalizations high among the unvaccinated, Pennsylvania report says
A report released Friday by the Pennsylvania Department of Health said that in the past month, 74% of those hospitalized due to COVID-19 in the state had not been vaccinated.
The Health Department also reported that from January to October of this year, 93% of those hospitalized with the coronavirus had not been vaccinated, and 93% of those who died due to COVID-19 had not been vaccinated or had only received one dose. In addition, 91% of all reported cases occurred among those who had not been vaccinated, or were not fully vaccinated. Vaccines became widely available across Pennsylvania and in much of the country in the spring.
The department reported almost 5,000 people have been hospitalized across the commonwealth in the last month because of COVID-19. There were a little more than 135,000 positive cases, driven by the contagious delta variant.
Acting Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson pointed out that the number of so-called “breakthrough” cases, when fully vaccinated individuals become ill with COVID-19, is bound to increase as more Pennsylvanians are vaccinated.
“It’s like what we saw with seat belt use years ago,” Johnson explained. “As the number of people wearing seatbelts increased, the number of car accidents involving people wearing seatbelts went up. However, the overall fatality rate from car accidents dropped. Your chances of dying in a car accident drop dramatically if you wear a seatbelt. So, too, your chances of dying from COVID-19 drop substantially if you are fully vaccinated.”
Johnson said the data in Pennsylvania lines up with data across the country, and keeping tabs on how cases and hospitalizations rise and fall will help determine how long immunity lasts among vaccinated individuals, and if booster shots should be administered.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 65% of the eligible population in Washington County has been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday. In Greene County, 48% of those eligible have been vaccinated, and 59.4% have in Fayette County. In Allegheny County, the vaccination rate stands at 68.6%, and in Westmoreland County, it is 59.7%.