About 25% of Erie County’s teens have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine – GoErie.com

Fairview 14-year-old receives COVID-19 vaccine

Tara Hokaj, a 14-year-old Fairview Township girl, talks about why she wanted to be one of the first people her age to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

David Bruce, Erie Times-News

Editor's Note: The Erie County Department of Health originally said a case of the Delta COVID-19 variant, discovered in India, hadbeen detected in the county. That is not correct and this story has been updated.

Erie County health officials are encouraged by the number of children and teenagers who are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

About 25% of county residents between the ages of 10 and 19 have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., director of community health services for the Erie County Department of Health.

Marjorie Cua, M.D.: What parents need to know about kids, COVID-19 and vaccines

That number is impressive considering that 10- and 11-year-olds are not currently eligible for the vaccine and 12- to 15-year-olds have only been allowed to be vaccinated since mid-May.

"I'm pleased with the number of young people getting vaccinated, but it needs to continue," Berringer said.

One reason Berringer wants to see vaccination rates climb is that more variants of COVID-19 havebeen detected in the county.

A case with the Gamma variant, originally found in Brazil, was detected May 26, while a case of the Beta variant, originally found in South Africa, was detected June 1, Berringer said.

The variants are often more transmissible than the original COVID-19 strain.

"Another concern is that our hospitalization rates have not decreased significantly in recent weeks," Berringer said. "There is still virus in the community and people are getting sick enough to be hospitalized."

The county's 14-day moving average of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations was 14.8 on Tuesday, about the same number it was in early April. The actual daily number has declined in recent days, including just six hospitalized county residents on Tuesday.

One way to reduce new cases and hospitalizations is to properly isolate yourself if you test positive for COVID-19 and quarantine yourself if you are determined to be a close contact of a positive case, Berringer said.

"These public health policies have not changed," Berringer said. "If you test positive for COVID, you need to isolate for 10 days from the date of your first symptom. If you are determined to be a close contact, you must quarantine for 10 days and wear a face mask for days 11 to 14."

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.

Original post:

About 25% of Erie County's teens have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine - GoErie.com