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BHS limits vaccinations because of short supply

Butler Health System is limiting COVID-19 vaccinations to health care workers and people age 75 or older, and has suspended the scheduling of vaccinations to others due to a short supply.

The health system said it is taking those actions because it has not received nearly enough doses of vaccine to accommodate all of the people eligible under the Pennsylvania Department of Health's expanded 1A group.

“At this time, scheduling requests are limited to health care workers and individuals age 75 or older. Due to the high volume of requests from the community and the limited supply of vaccine, scheduling requests are suspended at this time. Scheduling will reopen as BHS receives additional supply of vaccine. When reopened, scheduling will continue to be limited to health care workers and individuals age 75 or older,” BHS said Friday in a statement.

BHS reported 30 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including six patients in intensive care at Butler Memorial Hospital, and four confirmed cases with one patient in intensive care at Clarion Hospital.

Butler County saw 49 new cases Friday, raising the number of cases since the pandemic began to 7,949, and seven new deaths, increasing the total to 306, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Statewide, the 5,338 new cases reported Friday raises the total to 794,12, and the 193 new deaths as of Thursday raises the total of deaths to 20,321 in the state.

The department reported 4,758 people are hospitalized across the state and 851 of those patients are in intensive care. Most of the patients hospitalized are ages 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred in patients 65 or older.

The trend in the 14-day average number of hospitalized patients per day has increased by about 4,500 since the end of September.

The statewide positivity rate for the week of Jan. 8 to 14 was 12.7%.

There are 3,533,761 people in the state who have tested negative to date.

In nursing and personal care homes, there are 60,899 resident cases of COVID-19, and 11,425 cases among employees for a total of 72,324 at 1,528 facilities in all 67 counties. Out of the total deaths, 10,212 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.

About 21,979 of total cases are among health care workers.

As of Thursday, 585,691 doses of the vaccine have been administered, including vaccine administration through CVS as part of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership.

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