Pa. coronavirus update: Farley says pandemic ‘returning to where it began a year ago’ – WHYY

Philly to begin Phase 2 vaccinations by May

Philadelphia plans to begin vaccinating people in Phase 2 no later than May 1, officials said.

Farley says residents can expect an update later this week on when Philadelphia will move to Phase 1C.

The city currently has 226 vaccine provider sites. This is up from 200 such sites last week, according to Farley.

The city is still operating in Phase 1B, which is for people aged 65 and over, qualified essential workers, and people with certain pre-existing medical conditions.

The federally-supported site at the Convention Center is currently administering second doses of the Pfizer vaccine and will be doing that for two more weeks. After that, the site will be offering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for the last two weeks of its originally scheduled run. Health department officials project that 84,000 additional people will be fully vaccinated through that avenue.

It is still unclear whether the site will remain operating after its eight-week run.

We have requested for the federal government to have it stay longer, and we dont have an answer yet as to whether thats possible, Farley said.

Although its future is undecided, the Convention Center will be getting some company in the form of another federally supported Type 2 Site.

That is a high-volume site that is not quite the volume of the site at the Convention Center that will start either late next week or early the following week, Farley said.

It will be located near the Esperanza Academy Charter High School at 5th Street and Hunting Park Avenue, which is in the Hunting Park area.

The sites location is of great interest to the Health Department.

It also is at the center of the area of the city where we have the most under vaccinated zip codes, Farley said. In addition that site provides easy access to a large Hispanic population in the city. We know that Hispanics are the most under vaccinated group in the entire city.

Farley expects the site to vaccine at least 1,000 people per day during its eight-week stint.

Philadelphians in the hospitality industry can still apply for relief.

The deadline for businesses to apply to the Pennsylvania COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program, or CHIRP, has been extended one extra week. The new deadline for businesses to submit their application is 11:59pm on Monday, April 12, Mayor Jim Kenney said. So there are now about two weeks left to apply.

More information about the program can be found here.

Pa. updates school recommendations in line with CDC

In order to match the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, the Wolf administration has announced that students can now stand three feet apart.

However, in counties where substantial transmission continues to occur, middle and high school students should be six feet apart unless cohorting is possible, said Dr. Wendy Braund, the states COVID-19 Response Director.

Under previous guidance, the required distance between students was six feet. Under these new recommendations, there are several instances where six feet of physical distancing should be maintained.

These include between adults in the building, and between adults and students, when masks cant be worn, such as when eating, during activities where increased exhalation occurs, such as singing, shouting, band, sports or other physical activity. These activities should occur outdoors or in large well ventilated spaces. And the last is in common areas, such as school lobbies and auditoriums, Braund daid.

Additionally, the new guidance from the state gives schools updated directions on how to deal with COVID-19 cases.

For example, the length of in-person learning closures in some cases has also been reduced. A full list of scenarios can be found here.

We recognize the critical importance of in-person instruction, and hope that this step, along with updates to our recommendations for responding to positive COVID-19 cases will foster greater flexibility for school communities as they serve students each day, said. Matthew Stem, a deputy secretary in the states Education Department.

The summer camp guidance is mostly unchanged from last summers guidance.

In general, the summer camp guidance doubles down on the importance of health and safety plans being in place in our summer camp type programs, and it also talks about the importance of following all the mitigation strategies listed in the CDC suggestions for youth in summer camps, Stem said.

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Pa. coronavirus update: Farley says pandemic 'returning to where it began a year ago' - WHYY