The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the state and federal governments as of 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, February 11.

Pennsylvania Update

The Wolf Administration

Governor Wolf has created a COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force with administration representatives and “…members from each legislative caucus who can share vaccine information and communicate issues and solutions expediently on behalf of and to the broader General Assembly.”  According to a news release from the governor’s office, “Task force members will represent their caucus’s point-of-view and work to streamline conversations to focus and drive issues of importance.  Wolf Administration members will serve as task force members with the subject matter expertise to listen, collaborate and provide information, answers and suggestions to solve problems in a timely manner.”  Members of the task force are co-chairs Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam and director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Randy Padfield; for the Senate Democratic caucus, Senator Art Haywood; for the House Democratic caucus, Representative Bridget Kosierowski; for the Senate Republican caucus, Senator Ryan Aument; and for the House Republican caucus, Representative Tim O’Neal.

Department of Health

The Department of Health has updated its guide to getting the COVID-19 vaccine, which now includes a “Your Turn” feature to help Pennsylvanians learn when they will be eligible to receive a vaccine.

Department of Health – by the numbers

• The number of new daily cases has continued to decline in recent days.
• The daily death toll remains very high although it, too, is generally declining.
• The numbers of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with COVID-19, in ICU beds because of the virus, and on ventilators are all about 60 percent of what they were three weeks ago.
• Currently, 21 percent of adult ICU beds in the state are unoccupied, as are 16 percent of medical/surgical beds, 11 percent of pediatric ICU beds, 26 percent of pediatric beds, and 34 percent of airborne isolation units.  As is usually the case, these numbers tend to decline later in the week.
• As of February 11 the state’s vaccine dashboard shows that 791,000 Pennsylvanians have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 335,000 have received both doses of vaccine.  These numbers do not include Philadelphia, which operates its own COVID-19 vaccination program.
• The vaccine dashboard shows vaccine totals by county.

Department of State

To expand the number of health care professionals who can administer COVID-19 vaccines, the Department of State has temporarily suspended certain licensure requirements to enable practitioners from other states to administer COVID-19 vaccines without licensure in Pennsylvania provided that they hold a license in good standing in their home jurisdiction and meet the requirements of the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act

Around the State

• Despite the declining number of new COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania, on Tuesday Allegheny County reported more new cases – 405 – than it had on any day during the previous two weeks, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• More the norm is the situation in Westmoreland County, which has been a COVID-19 hotspot in recent months but is now averaging only about 30 percent of the new cases it was a month ago, the Tribune-Review adds.
• During the week of February 3, Montour County led Pennsylvania in COVID-19 vaccines administered per 1000 population with 79, followed by Cameron County (56 per 1000 population), Lackawanna (50), Northumberland (45), and Columbia (45).  Pulling up the rear in the state were Pike County (14), Bradford County (13), Fulton County (10), and Potter County (6).  The information, from Lancaster Online, does not include Philadelphia, which operates its own vaccination and data collection program.  The following is a complete list:

• The National Football League has offered the stadiums of all of its teams to serve as mass vaccination sites.  This idea has been received with limited enthusiasm in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Resources to Consult

Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

Main COVID-19 Page

COVID-19 Provider Resources

Press Releases

Pennsylvania Department of Health

Main COVID-19 Page

PA Health Alert Network

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Main COVID-19 Page

FAQ

Federal Update

The White House

• The White House has announced the membership of its COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.  See this White House fact sheet to learn more about the task force, its objectives, and its members.
• The White House has announced the introduction of a community health center vaccination program next week, with doses of vaccines to be sent directly to such facilities, and an increase in the supply of vaccines to be shared with states, tribes, and territories.  Learn more from a White House fact sheet.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

• The Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires Medicare Part B to cover beneficiary cost-sharing for provider visits when a COVID-19 diagnostic test is administered or ordered.  CMS has updated the list of codes (note:  this link leads to a zip file that can be downloaded) that physicians and non-physician practitioners can use with the Cost-Sharing (CS) modifier.  Go here to learn more.
• CMS has revised the MLN Matters article “Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) Response to the Public Health Emergency on the Coronavirus (COVID-19)” to clarify billing instructions in the skilled nursing facility benefit period waiver – provider information section.
• CMS has modified the previously extended deadline for third quarter 2020 submission of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) data and extended the submission deadline for electronic clinical quality measures for acute-care hospitals and prospective payment system-exempt cancer hospitals.  Learn more about how this affects specific reporting requirements and their changing deadlines.

HHS and CMS COVID-19 Stakeholder Calls

HHS Clinical Rounds Peer-to-Peer Virtual Communities of Practice

HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response sponsors COVID-19 Clinical Rounds Peer-to-Peer Virtual Communities of Practice that are interactive virtual learning sessions that seek to create a peer-to-peer learning network in which clinicians from the U.S. and abroad who have experience treating patients with COVID-19 share their challenges and successes.  These webinar topics are covered every week:

• EMS:  Patient Care and Operations (Mondays, 12:00-1:00 PM eastern)
• Critical Care:  Lifesaving Treatment and Clinical Operations (Tuesdays, 12:00-1:00 PM eastern)
• Emergency Department:  Patient Care and Clinical Operations (Thursdays, 12:00-1:00 PM eastern)

Go here for information about signing up to participate in the sessions and go here for access to materials and video recordings of past sessions.

CMS Stakeholder Calls

CMS hosts recurring stakeholder engagement sessions to share information about the agency’s response to COVID-19.  These sessions are open to members of the health care community and are intended to provide updates, share best practices among peers, and offer participants an opportunity to ask questions of CMS and other subject matter experts.

CMS COVID-19 Office Hours Calls

Tuesday, February 23 at 5:00 – 6:00 PM (eastern)

Toll Free Attendee Dial In:  833-614-0820; Access Passcode:  2528725

Audio Webcast link:  go here

Tuesday, March 16 at 5:00 – 6:00 PM (eastern)

Toll Free Attendee Dial In:  833-614-0820; Access Passcode:  4177586

Audio Webcast link:  go here

Tuesday, April 6 at 5:00 – 6:00 PM (eastern)

Toll Free Attendee Dial In:  833-614-0820; Access Passcode:  2769397

Audio Webcast link:  go here

Food and Drug Administration

• The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for bamlanivimab and etesevimab administered together for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age or older weighing at least 40 kilograms [about 88 pounds]) who test positive for COVID-19 and who are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19.  The authorized use includes treatment for those who are 65 years of age or older or who have certain chronic medical conditions.  Learn more from:
  • the emergency use authorization letter issued by the FDA to the manufacturer of the two monoclonal antibodies
  • an FDA fact sheet for providers
  • an FDA FAQ on use of the two drugs in combination
  • an FDA fact sheet for patients, providers, and caregivers

• The FDA has issued a final guidance document presenting its policy for temporary compounding of certain alcohol-based hand sanitizer products during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• The CDC has published a checklist with steps health care workers should take in preparation for the transport and arrival of patients with confirmed or possible COVID-19.
• The CDC has updated its interim infection prevention and control guidance for health care workers during the COVID-19 emergency.
• The CDC has again updated its recommended strategies for optimizing supplies of N95 respirators.
• The CDC has introduced several documents that seek to encourage the use of masks to protect against COVID-19 and to use masks more effectively.  Those documents are:
  • an updated summary of why and how to wear masks
  • information about the results of new research on how to improve the fit of cloth and medical procedures masks to improve their ability to reduce exposure to COVID-19
  • a consumer-oriented document that offers updated information about using masks more effectively.  This is the document that suggests wearing two masks as an option for greater protection.
  • Another consumer-oriented, updated guidance document on wearing masks.

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from Pennsylvania’s state government as of 3:30 p.m. on Monday, January 25.

Department of Health

The Department of Health has updated it guidance on the use and interpretation of point-of-care antigen test results.

The Department of Health has issued an updated health alert for long-term-care facilities on the use of point-of-care antigen tests, recommending a follow-up molecular test within 48 hours for any asymptomatic person with a positive antigen test result or symptomatic person with a negative result.

Department of Health – by the numbers

• Over the weekend Pennsylvania’s total number of COVID-19 cases surpassed 800,000.  That means that more than six percent of the state’s population has had the virus.
• Although the daily numbers remain very high, the decline in the number of new cases reported every day has fallen significantly in the past week.
• The daily death toll remains very high and the state-wide total rose past 20,000 in recent days.
• For the week from January 15 through January 21 the state’s overall COVID-19 test positivity rate fell to 10.5 percent; it was 12.7 percent the week before that.  This marked the fifth consecutive week the rate fell.
• Despite these positive signs, 66 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties remain in “substantial level of community transmission.”  This week, Cameron County fell out of this group.  Even so, all  counties have positivity rates greater than five percent, which is the level that is considered “concerning.”
• The numbers of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with COVID-19 has fallen below 4000 for the first time since the week of Thanksgiving.  The number of Pennsylvanians in hospital ICUs has fallen again for the second consecutive week, as has the number on ventilators.
• More than 22,000 health care workers in the state have contracted COVID-19.
• More than 73,000 long-term-care facility residents and employees have contracted COVID-19 in 1529 facilities in all 67 Pennsylvania counties.
• Currently, 22 percent of adult ICU beds in the state are unoccupied, as are 19 percent of medical/surgical beds, 17 percent of pediatric ICU beds, 34 percent of pediatric beds, and 34 percent of airborne isolation units.
• In its “Reduction of Elective Procedures” dashboard that tracks the criteria the state is using to determine whether to order hospitals to reduce or eliminate elective procedures to ensure their ability to handle possible influxes of COVID-19 patients, the state continues to flag a growing staffing shortage in hospitals in the state’s Keystone health care coalition region (Adams, Bedford, Blair, Centre, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder, and York counties).  In that region, 41 percent of the region’s hospitals anticipate a staffing shortage in the coming week – more than the 33 percent level that the state believes poses a potential problem.  The overall situation in the Keystone region, however, has not reached a point where the state would direct hospitals in this region to reduce or eliminate their elective surgeries.  This situation has remained the same for the past three weeks.
• As of January 25 the state’s vaccine dashboard shows that 451,000 Pennsylvanians have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and more than 114,000 have received both doses of vaccine.
• The vaccine dashboard shows vaccine totals by county both on a map and in lists.
• A spreadsheet of facilities that have received vaccines can be found here.
• As ordered by the Department of Health in late 2020, health care institutions – hospitals, FQHCs, and others – must reserve 10 percent of the doses of COVID-19 vaccines they received for non-hospital health care providers.  Now, the vaccine page on the department’s web site features a map of locations where non-hospital providers can obtain vaccines.  The map includes contact information for non-hospital providers identifying whom they can contact to schedule their vaccines.  State officials say more sites will be added to this map as more doses of COVID-19 vaccine become available.

Department of Human Services

DHS’s Office of Children, Youth, and Families has updated its general guidance reflecting the state’s COVID mitigation orders affecting services to children, youth, and families served by counties and providers licensed by the office.  The guidance covers safety precautions and visitation requirements.

Around the State

• Spotlight PA has posted an interactive map that shows every COVID-19 vaccination site in 66 of the state’s 67 counties (Philadelphia is not included).
• Appointments to receive COVID-19 vaccines are being filled almost as soon as they are being made available in some parts of the state.  Lehigh Valley Live reports that two weeks’ worth of appointments in Allentown were filled in just three hours, while according to WESA-FM, “Less than an hour after the Allegheny County Health Department opened up vaccination appointments to people age 65 and older all the slots were reportedly filled.”  The Allegheny Health Network has stopped making vaccination appointments because of a shortage of vaccines, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that “After nearly a year of dealing with the effects of COVID-19 with the assistance of neighboring Chester County, Delaware County has taken a series of concrete steps toward forming a health department of its own.”

Resources to Consult

Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

Main COVID-19 Page

COVID-19 Provider Resources

Press Releases

Pennsylvania Department of Health

Main COVID-19 Page

PA Health Alert Network

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Main COVID-19 Page

FAQ

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the state government as of 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 19.

Office of the Governor/Vaccination Plan

The state has expanded its categories of individuals eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as part of phase 1A of Pennsylvania’s vaccination plan; this change is incorporated into the Department of Health’s vaccine web page.  To introduce this policy change, the governor’s office also sent the following message to selected stakeholders:

The Pennsylvania Department of Health today will announce two additional categories of eligible individuals to receive the COVID-19 vaccination as part of Phase 1A. Beginning today, all individuals 65 and older, and individuals ages 16-64 with certain medical conditions, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that increase the risk of severe illness from the virus, are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination. The Departments’ Updated Interim Vaccine Plan can be found here.

Those conditions are outlined by the CDC here and include: Cancer; Chronic kidney disease; COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease); Down Syndrome; Heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies; Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant, blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids, or use of other immune weakening medicines; Obesity; Severe Obesity; Pregnancy; Sickle cell disease; Smoking; and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. 

If you are part of a group that is eligible for vaccination, you can use the Pennsylvania Vaccine Provider Map to find a place to schedule your vaccine. Contact the vaccine provider of your choice directly to schedule an appointment. This map will be updated as more locations receive vaccine. Although a provider may have received vaccine, there is no guarantee that they have open appointments as supply is still very limited. Check back frequently as the map will be updated multiple times per week. 

We’ll be releasing additional information later today, including an FAQ, with more detailed information on how individuals can find a provider to schedule a vaccination. Thank you for your partnership and for all you are doing to serve Pennsylvania. 

Department of Health

President-elect Biden has nominated Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine to become assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Department of Health – by the numbers

• Although the numbers remain very high, the decline in the number of new daily COVID-19 cases has generally continued since late last week.
• The death toll remains very high, with more than 19,000 Pennsylvanians dying from COVID-19 – 18 percent of them since January 1.
• For the week from January 8 through January 14 the state’s overall COVID-19 test positivity rate fell to 12.7 percent; it was 14.4 percent the week before that.  This marked the fourth consecutive week the rate fell.
• Despite these positive signs, all 67 Pennsylvania counties remain in “substantial level of community transmission,” as has been the case the past several weeks, and all counties have positivity rates greater than five percent, which is the level that is considered “concerning.”
• Four of those counties have positivity rates greater than 20 percent, down from 14 counties last week and 27 counties two weeks ago.
• The numbers of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with COVID-19 has fallen below 5000 for the first time since early December.  The number of Pennsylvanians in hospital ICUs has fallen in the past week, as has the number on ventilators.
• More than 21,500 health care workers in the state have contracted COVID-19.
• More than 71,000 long-term-care facility residents and employees have contracted COVID-19 in 1521 facilities in all 67 Pennsylvania counties.
• Currently, 18 percent of adult ICU beds in the state are unoccupied, as are 16 percent of medical/surgical beds, 16 percent of pediatric ICU beds, 32 percent of pediatric beds, and 34 percent of airborne isolation units.
• In its “Reduction of Elective Procedures” dashboard that tracks the criteria the state is using to determine whether to order hospitals to reduce or eliminate elective procedures to ensure their ability to handle possible influxes of COVID-19 patients, the state continues to flag a growing staffing shortage in hospitals in the state’s Keystone health care coalition region (Adams, Bedford, Blair, Centre, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder, and York counties).  In that region, 41 percent of the region’s hospitals anticipate a staffing shortage in the coming week – more than the 33 percent level that the state believes poses a potential problem.  The overall situation in the Keystone region, however, has not reached a point where the state would direct hospitals in this region to reduce or eliminate their elective surgeries.  This situation has remained the same for the past two weeks.
• As of January 19 the state’s vaccine dashboard shows that 340,000 COVID-19 Pennsylvanians have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and more than 42,000 Pennsylvanians have received both doses of vaccine.
• The vaccine dashboard shows vaccine totals by county both on a map and in lists.
• A spreadsheet of facilities that have received vaccine can be found here.
• As ordered by the Department of Health in late 2020, health care institutions – hospitals, FQHCs, and others – must reserve 10 percent of the doses of COVID-19 vaccines they received for non-hospital health care providers.  Now, the vaccine page on the department’s web site features a map of locations where non-hospital providers can obtain vaccines.  The map includes contact information for non-hospital providers identifying whom they can contact to schedule their vaccines.  State officials say more sites will be added to this map as more doses of COVID-19 vaccine become available.
• Every week the White House Coronavirus Task Force provides a profile to the administration with data and recommendations for each state.  Go here to see the latest (January 10) report for Pennsylvania.

Department of Human Services

• DHS’s Office of Long-Term Living has issued a transition plan to phase out temporary changes in Pennsylvania’s OBRA 1915(c) waiver.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved temporary changes in that waiver beginning March 6, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  These changes addressed potential staffing shortages and the need for service provision not included in approved service descriptions.  OLTL has now obtained another waiver from CMS to extend the effective date of the temporary changes, permitting some flexibilities to continue until March 5, 2021; to provide additional flexibilities for Adult Daily Living Services to be provided remotely; and for waiver services to be provided in alternate settings as approved by OLTL.  OLTL now publishes new guidance that rescinds and replaces its OBRA guidance dated May 8, 2020.  This guidance also clarifies flexibilities that remain available through March 5, 2021 or another date determined by OLTL.  See the revised guidance here and find additional information here, including a list of flexibilities that remain in effect until March 5.
• OLTL has updated its guidance on COVID-19-related temporary changes in the state’s Act 150 program.  The Act 150 program provides assistance to adults 18 through 59 years of age who are mentally alert and have physical disabilities to perform activities of daily living.
• HHS’s Office of Development Programs has issued updated guidance for adult daily living providers delivering services remotely or by telephone during the COVID-19 emergency.
• HHS’s Office of Development Programs has issued guidance to supports coordination organizations, administrative entities, providers, and other interested parties regarding services included in Individual Support Plans that are effective through June 30, 2021 for individuals enrolled in the Consolidated, Community Living, Person/Family Directed Support (P/FDS), or Adult Autism waivers.

Department of State

Pennsylvania’s Department of State has issued a waiver permitting pharmacists who hold a valid Authorization to Administer Injectables to order and administer COVID-19 vaccines without the need for an order from a licensed prescriber or a protocol approved/authorized by a physician or the medical staff of an institution, subject to certain terms and conditions.  The order applies only to administering COVID-19 vaccines and expires 90 days after the termination of the governor’s declaration of the COVID-19 emergency.

Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council

PHC4 has released its initial “COVID-19 Disaster Emergency Report.”  According to the report, the state’s hospitals and health systems had $4.93 billion in COVID-19-related expenses and lost revenue from January through September 2020; this figure does reflect federal funding provided under the CARES Act and other measures.

Around the State

• Hospitals in western Pennsylvania are struggling not to waste leftover COVID-19 vaccine serum, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• In the face of the challenges they have faced dealing with COVID-19, officials in Westmoreland County wonder whether they should establish their own county health department, according to the Tribune-Review.
• Published reports tell of declining COVID-19 cases in Bucks County, Allegheny County, York County, Lancaster County, and Berks County.

Resources to Consult

Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

Main COVID-19 Page

COVID-19 Provider Resources

Press Releases

Pennsylvania Department of Health

Main COVID-19 Page

PA Health Alert Network

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Main COVID-19 Page

FAQ