Montgomery County officials on Wednesday unveiled a new website that allows residents to find out where they fall in the order of who gets a coronavirus vaccine.
Montgomery County, Maryland, officials on Wednesday unveiled a new website that allows residents to find out where they fall in the order of who gets a coronavirus vaccine.
Health Officer, Dr. Travis Gayles, in the weekly media conference, quickly pointed out that the website, which is part of the country’s COVID-19 website, does not allow you to register to get a vaccine, or to find out when you have one. can get – at least not yet.
It depends on how many doses the province receives through the state, which in turn is determined by how much the state receives from federal officials.
“All of us are in this waiting line,” said district manager Marc Elrich.
But you can find out in which priority group and in which group you are, and you can sign up for emails or text messages about how many doses have been given, which groups are currently receiving the vaccine and which group you fall into.
Gayles said it was difficult to predict when the vaccination line would move to a new group, as the country would find out their weekly grant from the state for the coming week, and the state would only find out a week in advance what they were going to get.
The vaccination news comes while the numbers of coronaviruses in the country are still high, officials said. The country recorded 531 new cases of the virus on Wednesday, about ten times the daily number as of August.
“It’s not a good number,” Elrich said.
The positivity rate, 8.4%, or the 39.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the country was also not.
Although a vaccine is on the way, “the virus is still very much in the US,” Elrich said. “We are still in the midst of a major public health crisis” and “it will be a while before” the general public can get the vaccine.
Dr Earl Stoddard, of the province’s emergency management agency, said he was “still incredibly concerned about the numbers”, adding that 20% of EMS calls on Monday involved people suspected of having COVID-19.
Gayles added that two of the six hospitals in the province are competent in terms of ICU beds. “We can not stop doing what we do to keep people safe,” Gayles said.
While hospitals have beds, Stoddard said, for example, hospitals do not have enough capacity for each patient to have oxygen – such deficiencies are seen in Los Angeles County.
Stoddard added: “We are not happy with where we are, but we are not worried that we are going to blow up the system” as they feared about a month ago.
Vaccination distribution
Gayles said about 94% of the doses they have received so far – 4,047 out of about 4,300 – have been handed out. The province received 8,600 doses on Tuesday and hopes 5,500 people will be administered for a total of 9,500 doses.
It’s not enough to cover everyone who qualifies, ‘Gayles said. It was added that the number is between 40,000 and 50,000 – the number of people in Priority Group 1A, Tiers 1 and 2 who are not vaccinated by long-term care facilities or hospitals where they live or work.
Elrich nevertheless pointed out that Governor Larry Hogan recognizes Montgomery County as one of the five places in Maryland that “moves doses at a good pace.”
“When it comes in the door, we already have plans to get it out the door,” Elrich said.
Gayles added that the province is not going to wait to confirm that the 50,000 people in level 1 will be vaccinated before moving on. They will look at the trend of how many people are entering the highest level.
The health official also said of the vaccine: ‘I got it two weeks ago; I did not grow a second head; I did not grow or shrink 6 inches. ‘
He understood that some people were resistant to the vaccine for several reasons, and said that even his family members told him, “We are going to wait to see what happens to you.”
School
The school department has a February 1 target date for students to switch to hybrid learning, and some classes are offered in school buildings. The numbers are currently well above target, and Gayles said: “I think it’s going to be challenging to reach the target, even though teachers and staff are able to get vaccinations,” which may change the conversation a bit. “
He added that he and other officials supported the move of educators to a higher level.
“I do not think there will be enough people vaccinated by February 1 to start hybrid learning,” Gayles said. ‘We’ll at least see people getting their first doses. But as always, we will continue to study the literature and participate in best practices. ”
Optimism
Elrich saw signs of hope for 2021 and hoped that the federal government under Biden’s incoming government had a “greater willingness to spend the money to heal businesses and families … I certainly feel we have a better federal partner. “
Elrich added: “There are many reasons to be optimistic that this year will be better than last.”
It’s still time to follow the rules – wear masks, keep your distance, wash your hands and let yourself be tested. He said 536,000 people, 51% of the country’s population, had been tested so far, with a total of 1,083,000 tests.
Elrich nevertheless said: A clean test is just as good as your next meeting. ‘
More Coronavirus news
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