[ad_1]
ST. GEORGE – There is a light at the end of the tunnel. These were the words of state epidemiologist Dr Angela Dunn with the Utah Department of Health on Thursday as a schedule was released for release in southern Utah and the rest of the state of at least two COVID-19 vaccines that are on the verge of an emergency. approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
The schedule calls for the first vaccines to be sent to healthcare workers directly treating COVID-19 patients at Dixie Regional Medical Center as early as the week of December 14. The rest of the schedule is fluid based on vaccine supplies, but should be available to all Utahns as early as April and as late as June.
While for the first time there may be a clear end point for a pandemic that has now killed 95 people in southern Utah and infected nearly eight out of 100 here, health officials and the governor have warned Thursday that there is still a lot of darkness. go before you get to that light.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so we have to stay stable for the next few months,” Dunn said.
As a reminder of the difficult road ahead, the Utah Department of Health said southern Utah experienced its fourth worst day in the pandemic on Thursday a day after the one-day peak with 323 new infections.
There were 312 new infections reported in St. George alone – the most in a day and 118 more than the previous high. In fact, every major local city on Thursday recorded its record for new single-day infections, including 118 in Cedar City and 67 in Washington City.
This may be a harbinger of what’s to come, as city-by-city numbers released by the Utah Department of Health are typically a day ahead of the overall Southern Utah number released. by the Southwest Utah Department of Public Health.
At a press conference at the Salt Lake City State Capitol on Thursday, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said in terms of the number of people infected, the impact on hospitals and deaths, it will get worse before it gets better.
“It’s been nine months since the pandemic hit Utah. The reality is that we have several months to go. The next 45 to 60 days could be the most difficult time of all, ”said Herbert. “The good news is that there is hope and help along the way.”
Dixie Regional frontline workers will be the first to receive the vaccine
Modeled on the vaccine distribution phases described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Intermountain Healthcare and the Dixie Regional Medical Center presented their vaccine distribution schedule across southern Utah on Thursday.
The bottom line is, the first people to get the vaccine locally will be those who are treating COVID-19 patients directly at Dixie Regional Medical Center as soon as two weeks from now, as the FDA is expected to decide by then to grant clearance for it. emergency of two COVID-19 vaccines in their final stages of testing.
The vaccines actually consist of two injections that must be taken within 21 days of each other. According to medical authorities, full immunity does not take effect until a week after the second stroke.
Dixie Regional, which will be renamed St. George Regional Hospital earlier this year, is one of five hospitals in the state expected to receive the first doses of the vaccine.
Due to the limited number of vaccines in the initial batch – around 1,000 doses will initially be received at Dixie Regional according to Intermountain Healthcare – the first people to receive injections will be those currently treating patients with coronavirus.
“We will target the providers most at risk … doctors, nurses who work at the bedside of patients with COVID, but also environmental service workers (housekeeping staff) and anesthesiologists,” said Dr Kristin Dascomb , Medical Director of Infection Prevention, Employee Health at Intermountain Healthcare. “As vaccine production increases, we will be able to expand rapidly to immunize as many people as possible.”
By the end of the month, those receiving the vaccine will first be extended to first responders like police and firefighters before moving on to high-risk groups starting with residents of long-term care facilities and workers. essentials such as those working for utility, food service and transportation providers by early 2021.
From there, people 65 and over will be next, followed by teachers, then other high risk groups.
For the rest of those in southern Utah, the current schedule is between May and June before most of the public can get vaccinated.
“We could see the vaccine as early as the end of February, but more likely in April for people at high risk, then next summer for the rest of the population,” Dr. Tamara Sheffield, medical director of community health and prevention for Intermountain, told me.
The governor has a more optimistic schedule for the release of the vaccine to the general population than those in the medical field. “By April, anyone who wants a vaccine can get it,” Herbert said.
The group that may have to wait the longest for a vaccine will be the youngest. Since vaccine trials did not include anyone under the age of 18, even when the vaccine is available to most of the population, it may still not be available for those 18 and under. Vaccine trials are only just beginning in this age group.
“It will be some time before there is wide availability for school-aged children,” Dunn said.
Besides supply, another factor that will decrease the speed of distribution is that the virus must be stored in a specialized freezer between minus 45 and minus 75 degrees. This is one of the reasons why Dixie Regional is among the first to receive the vaccine as it already has the necessary specialized freezers in a secure area.
“It’s very delicate and requires special handling,” Dascomb said.
Each vaccine – one by drugmaker Pfizer and the other by Moderna – has shown 90% to 95% effectiveness, according to the CDC. This compares to 97% effectiveness for the measles vaccine, 88% for the mumps vaccine, and about 50% effectiveness for the current influenza vaccine.
An independent committee mandated by the FDA will decide next Thursday whether it will approve the approval of an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine, which has already been approved for use in the UK. A decision to approve the safety of the Maderna vaccine, which has been shown to be 5% more effective than the Pfizer vaccine, is expected a week later.
State reduces recommended quarantine time
Following a new CDC recommendation, Utah has reduced the time a person needs to quarantine after exposure to someone with the coronavirus from 14 to 10 days, with the option to be released from quarantine after seven days with a negative COVID-19 test.
This will affect workers and students who have had to be quarantined for up to two weeks after simply being exposed to someone infected with the virus.
But Dunn clarified that the decision by the Utah Department of Health to follow the guidelines released by the CDC on Wednesday was not based on any new knowledge of the gestation period of the virus. It’s still a 14-day cycle for the virus, but many people have found it difficult to stay away from work and other activities for the full 14 days.
“It’s about reducing the burden, but we should still be vigilant during this 14-day period,” Dunn said. “There’s still that risk for the next four days.”
Editor’s Note: St. George News will have a report on the safety, effectiveness and side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming days, as well as whether people will be required to take the vaccine.
COVID-19 Information Resources
St. George News has done everything possible to ensure that the information contained in this story is correct at the time it was written. However, as the situation and the science surrounding the coronavirus continue to evolve, it is possible that some data has changed.
Check out the resources below for up-to-date information and resources.
Number of coronaviruses in southern Utah (as of December 3, 2020, seven-day average in parentheses)
Positive COVID-19 tests: 12,875 (228.9 new infections per day in seven days, up from December 2)
- Washington County: 10,233 (176.1 per day, up)
- Iron County: 2,029 (43.8 per day, up)
- Kane County: 193 (4.5 per day, increasing)
- Garfield County: 245 (1.2 per day, increasing)
- Beaver County: 175 (3 per day, increasing)
New infections for major cities in southern Utah (figures released before southern Utah figures):
- Saint-Georges: 312 (up)
- City of Washington: 67 (rising)
- Hurricane / LaVerkin: 57 (rising)
- Ivins City / Santa Clara: 58 (rising)
- Cedar City: 118 (rising)
Death: 95 (1.3 per day, increasing)
- Washington County: 80 (1 new: female 65 to 84 at home.)
- Iron County: 6
- Garfield County: 6
- Kane County: 1
- Beaver County: 2
Hospitalized: 56 (up)
Active cases: 4,079 (down)
Restored: 8,701
Current seven-day Utah average: 2.627 (up)
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.
[ad_2]
Source link