Apr 8, 2021 3 min read

State Department of Health COVID-19 Response Director Dr. Wendy Braund on Wednesday encouraged Pennsylvanians to get vaccinated as soon as possible, and to continue to follow mitigation protocols as cases of the virus climbed across the state and more contagious variants spread.

“All mitigation efforts, which now include vaccine, remain critical in our fight against COVID-19, especially as we see an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the state,” said Braund during a press conference with the state Department of Education’s Acting Secretary Noe Ortega to discuss recent school health and safety recommendations updates.

‘In addition to these increases, the CDC continues to report more variant cases across the country and across the commonwealth,” said Braund. “This is a reminder that we must continue to stay vigilant.”

Pennsylvania is one of five states that accounted for about 43% of new COVID-19 cases over the past week, according to a report from Johns Hopkins University.

The state departments of health and education on Monday announced modifications to their instructional model recommendations for pre-K to grade 12 schools.

“We remain committed to doing everything we can to create the conditions for a return to in-person instruction as soon as safely possible,” said Ortega. “While these recommendations are not mandates, mitigation strategies remain essential to opening safe, in-person learning environments.”

In alignment with updates from the Centers for Disease Control, the departments recommend K-12 public schools in counties with a moderate level of community transmission of COVID-19 now consider returning students to full in-person instruction in addition to a blended/hybrid learning model.

Counties with a substantial level of community transmission should consider blended/hybrid learning in addition to remote learning for K-12 students.

For the week ending April 2, Washington and Greene counties were in the substantial level of community transmission. Fayette County was in the moderate level.

“While we have come a long way, we must stay laser focused as we continue to move forward together. We are not out of the woods yet, but we’re very close,” said Ortega, noting Pennsylvania completed its initiative to vaccinate teachers and staff ahead of schedule.

To date, about 112,000 have been vaccinated.

Braund said the increase in case counts and hospitalizations in Pennsylvania is concerning, but noted the rolling seven-day average of cases “has stopped increasing, which means we are once again reaching a plateau. It is a higher plateau than we would like to see, but that is certainly good news and an indication that our mitigation efforts are working.

“It is really key to get folks vaccinated just as soon as we can,” said Braund. “That is really our best defense, and continuing our current mitigation efforts and prevention efforts.”

Braun said she is hopeful there will be a vaacine for teenagers available in the fall.

“That will certainly help mitigate the spread in schools as well as in the larger community, because the school is really a microcosm of the community in terms of the spread,” said Braund.