Montgomery County officials on Wednesday released a new website that will allow residents to find out where they are in the ranks of those who get the coronavirus vaccine.
Montgomery County, Maryland, authorities released a new website on Wednesday that will allow residents to find out where they are in the ranks of those receiving the coronavirus vaccine.
The health officer, Dr. Travis Gayles, at the weekly media briefing, was quick to point out that the site, which is part of the county’s COVID-19 site, does not allow you to register for a vaccine, or to know when you you can get it – not yet, anyway.
This depends on how many doses the county receives from the state, which in turn is determined by how much the state receives from federal officials.
“We are all on this waiting list,” said county executive Marc Elrich.
But you can find out which priority group and what level of that group you are in, and you can subscribe to receive email or text notifications about how many doses were administered, which groups are currently receiving the vaccine and which group you fall into inside
Gayles said it is difficult to predict when the vaccination queue will move to a new group because the county discovers its weekly quota from the state over the weekend of next week, and the state only finds out a week in advance what it is going to get.
News of the vaccine arrives while the number of coronaviruses in the county is still high, officials said. The municipality registered 531 new cases of the virus on Wednesday, about 10 times the daily number for August.
“This is not a good number,” said Elrich.
Neither the positivity rate, 8.4%, nor the 39.1 cases per 100,000 residents in the municipality.
Although a vaccine is on the way, “the virus is still very present in the United States,” said Elrich. “We are still in the middle 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 county’s emergency management agency, said he “is still extremely 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 county’s six hospitals are full in terms of ICU beds. “We cannot stop doing what we are doing to keep people safe,” said Gayles.
Although hospitals have beds, said Stoddard, hospitals do not have enough capacity, for example, for all patients to receive oxygen – this shortage is being observed in Los Angeles County.
Stoddard added: “We are not happy with where we are, but we are not concerned with blowing up the system”, as they feared about a month ago.
Vaccine distribution
Gayles said that about 94% of the doses they have received so far – 4,047 out of about 4,300 – have been distributed. The county received 8,600 doses on Tuesday and expects to have 5,500 doses administered for a total of 9,500 doses distributed.
This “is not enough to cover all eligible,” said Gayles, adding that that number is between 40,000 and 50,000 – the number of people who are in Priority Group 1A, Tiers 1 and 2 who are not being vaccinated by long-term centers care facilities or hospitals where they live or work.
Still, Elrich pointed out that Governor Larry Hogan recognized Montgomery County as one of five places in Maryland that is “moving doses fast.”
“When the time comes, we already have plans to put it on the market,” said Elrich.
Gayles added that the county will not wait to confirm that the 50,000 people in Tier 1 were vaccinated before they left. They will watch the trend of how many people in the top tier enter.
The health officer also said of the vaccine: “I got it two weeks ago; I didn’t grow a second head; I didn’t grow or shrink 15 centimeters. “
He understood that some people are resistant to the vaccine for a number of reasons, saying that even his relatives said to him, “Let’s wait and see what happens to you.”
Schools
The school department has a target date of February 1 for students to move on to hybrid learning, with some classes being taught in school buildings. The numbers are well above the target, and Gayles said, “I think it will be a challenge” to reach the target, although teachers and staff may get the vaccines, “that may change the conversation a little bit.”
He added that he and other officials supported moving educators to a higher level.
“I don’t think until February 1” there will be enough people vaccinated to start hybrid learning, said Gayles. “At the very least, we will see people receiving their first doses. But, as always, we will continue to study literature and engage in best practices ”.
Optimism
Elrich saw signs of hope for 2021, hoping that the federal government under the next Biden administration will be “more willing to spend the money necessary to make businesses and families whole … I certainly feel that we have a better federal partner”.
Elrich added: “There are many reasons to be optimistic that this year will be better than the previous one.”
It’s still time to follow the rules – wear masks, keep your distance, wash your hands and get tested. He said 536,000 people, 51% of the county’s population, have been tested so far, with a total of 1,083,000 tests performed.
Still, Elrich said: A clean test is only as good as your next date. “
More news about Coronavirus
Looking for more information? DC, Maryland and Virginia are rolling out more data every day. Visit their official websites here: Virginia | Maryland | A.D