Masks still recommended but not required for fully vaccinated Luzerne County employees on the job

Starting Monday, Luzerne County government workers won’t be required to wear masks inside county facilities if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 based on new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, county Manager C. David Pedri told employees.

“Nevertheless, masks are still recommended if you fall into this category for the safety of others as well as for the comfort level of our citizen visitors,” Pedri wrote in a Friday email. “Therefore, starting on Monday, for those who are fully vaccinated, masks are recommended but not required.”

Also under state health department guidelines covering social distancing, the county will move to a 70% capacity on Monday and full capacity on May 31, Pedri said.

Pedri directed workers to vaccines.gov to find the closest location to schedule a vaccine if they are interested and have not yet received one.

He opened his email with this: “Well it’s been a LONG time coming, but it looks like we are nearing the end of this pandemic.”

“Please know that we are all truly thankful for each of you who sacrificed to keep your co-workers safe throughout this pandemic,” he wrote.

Pedri said Sunday that it will be a personal choice for each employee. Pedri will be fully vaccinated effective this week because he received his second dose two weeks ago. He said he likely will continue to wear a mask for a couple more weeks.

Vaccine progress

To date, 114,851 county residents have been fully vaccinated, according to the state.

For comparison purposes, the state also reports the vaccination rate per 100,000 residents.

The county’s rate: 36,183.

From high to low, here are the rates per 100,000 residents in counties surrounding Luzerne, the state data says:

• Lackawanna: 43,515

• Columbia: 36,896

• Carbon: 35,535

• Schuylkill: 34,812

• Wyoming: 33,862

• Sullivan: 29,575

• Monroe: 29,033

A map and table of vaccination rates for all counties is posted under the vaccine statistics section at www.health.pa.gov.

The counties with the highest rates per 100,000 residents: Forest, with 52,974, and Montour, listed at 51,251.

Residents 12 and older are now eligible to be vaccinated in the state.

In addition to those fully vaccinated in Luzerne County, another 31,263 residents are partially vaccinated and awaiting a second required dose, the state said.

As part of a program announced earlier this month, homebound elderly and disabled county residents can receive the COVID-19 vaccine at their residence. Those interested should contact the county’s Area Agency on Aging at 570-822-1158.

Coronavirus cases

There were 341 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county the week ending May 13, which is a drop of 72 from the prior week’s 413 additional cases, according to the state’s latest early warning dashboard posted at www.health.pa.gov.

With fewer new cases, the county’s incidence rate — the number of cases per 100,000 residents — decreased from 130.1 to 107.4 over the two-week period. Statewide, the incidence rate is 74.4.

The county’s positivity rate, or the percentage of diagnostic tests yielding positive results, is now 7.7%, compared to 8.6% two weeks ago. At the state level, the positivity rate is now 5.3%.

An average daily 40.3 county residents were hospitalized for the coronavirus the week ending May 13, or 8.4 less than the previous week’s average daily 48.7 residents, the state said. To gauge this figure, average daily hospitalizations were a much higher 130.6 in mid-January but only 7.3 in June 2020.

The number of hospitalized county residents on ventilators decreased from 4.1 to 2 during the period, it said.

In the remaining benchmark statistic, the percentage of hospital visits tied to coronavirus-like illnesses rose from 0.4% two weeks ago to 0.6% last week.